Foreign Minister Yigal Allon today urged Israelis opposed to the proposed second Sinai interim accord to direct their criticism at the Israel government and not at its guest, Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, who arrived here late today in his latest round of shuttle diplomacy in hopes of completing the accord. Kissinger was scheduled to begin negotiation with Israeli officials tomorrow and then proceed to Alexandria for the second round of his current negotiations.
Allon apparently had in mind daubings on roads in and near Jerusalem which included derogatory slogans aimed at Kissinger, as well as reported plans by the Gush Emunim and other groups to stage a “public trial” of Kissinger. The Foreign Minister made his appeal in a radio interview this morning after demonstrators made Allon’s East Jerusalem residence one of their targets last night. In the mounting public protests, other demonstrators marched on Premier Yitzhak Rabin’s home in the Rehavia section but were kept at a distance by police.
Meanwhile, a 32-year-old father of seven children was detained on suspicion of planning an attack on Kissinger. His name was withheld. Police said tonight that the suspected plotter would be brought before a magistrate tomorrow for remand.
The protesters clearly intended to continue their protests to force the government from concluding the proposed new interim accord which their spokesmen made plain they considered a disastrous step backwards for Israel’s security. They contended that the proposed agreement would result in another war, that yielding the Mitle and Gidi Passes and the Abu Rodeis oilfields meant Israel was giving away its best bargaining counters and that what was at stake was neither the Middle East deadlock nor peace for Israel but the future of Kissinger.
DEEP HATRED UNPRECEDENTED
One police official said he could not recall such deep hatred before among Israelis for one individual. In posters and speeches, the protesters cited all of Kissinger’s “failures,” with many posters mentioning the Vietnam fiasco and the way Kissinger conducted talks for the Vietnam settlement.
It was reported that buses with members of various kibbutzim throughout Israel were en route to Jerusalem carrying supporters of the proposed accord who wanted to provide evidence of such support to counter-balance the opposition protests.
Shortly before Kissinger’s arrival, special police units began patrolling Rabin’s and Allon’s residences. Road blocks were in readiness near the King David Hotel where the Kissinger entourage will stay.
AIRPORT APPEARS UNDER SIEGE
In anticipation of Kissinger’s arrival, the tightest security measures in Israel’s history were imposed at Ben Gurion Airport. Many airport workers were sent home to reduce to an absolute minimum the number of persons at the airport on Kissinger’s arrival. Airport parking lots were closed and only persons with special permits, good for one time only, were permitted to reach the heavily-guarded lots.
The airport itself had the appearance of being under siege. Hundreds of security units–Israeli and American, Israeli police, border police and soldiers–were on duty. Armed guards were posted on roofs and the entire airport area was sealed off. Kissinger’s two bullet-proof cars arrived here last night along with American security officials.
Israeli evening newspapers, commenting on the anti-Kissinger demonstrations, asserted that Kissinger himself sparked the protests by his statements blaming Israel for his shuttle failure last March and for his “pressure-like” declarations since. Maariv declared that Kissinger’s attitude during the Ford Administration’s “reassessment” of Mideast policy after the March fiasco did not make him a man to be received “as a true friend or savior of Israel.” But Maariv urged that Kissinger should be received correctly, “no more and no less” and that the demonstrations should be directed against the government, not against the Secretary.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
