Premier Menachem Begin and Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres stated to the Knesset today their respective positions on the future status of the occupied territories and the Jewish settlements located in them.
Although the policies of the Likud-led government and those of the opposition are well known, the sharp divergence between them was made clear as each man mounted the podium to address the Knesset which reconvened today after its Pass-over recess.
Begin declared that it was “obvious” that ” any proposal, in a future peace negotiation that Jewish settlements be removed or withdrawn will be rejected.” He said this was “obvious” in terms of his government’s overall political platform which is to “raise Israel’s claim and right to sovereignty over Judaea, Samaria and Gaza” after the five-year transition period of autonomy called for by the Camp David accords.
Quoting from his government’s “basic policy guidelines” formulated when the present Cabinet took office last August, Begin noted that “when the day comes that our State sovereignty will apply to Judaea, Samaria and Gaza, we will keep and maintain full autonomy…as agreed at Camp David and as to be implemented through negotiations which, I assume, will shortly be resumed.”
Until last weekend, Begin had intended to present his government’s position in the form of a binding Knesset resolution that no Jewish settlement will ever be removed as part of a peace agreement with any Arab country. But he abondoned that idea when informed by Peres last Friday that Labor would not support such a resolution. Although the government believed it could be passed by the Knesset, its adoption by a slim majority would have seriously weakened the intended “declarative impact.” Peres, who spoke directly after Begin, criticized the settlement statement as “untimely” and as a dangerous distortion of political realities He said that a Labor-led government would place settlements only in security areas, around Jerusalem, in the Jordan Valley, the Etzion bloc, southern Gaza and the Golan Heights. The Likud policy has been to plant settlements in the most heavily Arab-populated regions of the West Bank.
Peres stressed that in any peace talks in which a Labor government was involved it would strive to keep extant Jewish settlements intact while the question of ultimate sovereignty was resolved “in negotiations without pre-conditions.”
Peres charged that Begin’s statement on the settlements reflected his “had conscience” over the evacuation of Yamit in Sinai. He recalled explicit pledges by Begin during his first administration in 1977 and 1978 that the Yamit area settlements would never be removed.”Where are those promises now?” he asked. He expressed the Labor Party’s contention that the Yamit settlements might have been preserved during the 1978 peace talks with Egypt.
In that connection, he read excerpts from former Defense Minister Ezer Weizman, a major participant in the Camp David and Egyptian-Israeli peace negotiations, who claimed that mathers might have been arranged differently with the Egyptians had not Begin and “certain others” — a reference to Defense Minister Ariel Sharon–not been half-hearted about peace with Egypt.
DEFENDS HALTING EL AL FLIGHTS
Begin devoted the greater part of his address to defending the Cabinet’s decision yesterday to halt El Al flights on the Sabbath and religious holidays. He argued that the Sabbath is a noble concept that Jewry gave the world and the national air carrier of the Jewish State must not flout it.
Begin expressed the Orthodox point of view when he stated that the issue must not be determined by purely economic factory. He noted that observant Jews in the diaspora in years gone by had “lost a lot of money” by keeping their shops closed on the Sabbath when local authorities refused to allow them to open on Sundays. According to a report by a government-appointed committee, the financially troubled El Al stands to lose some $40 million a year because of the Sabbath ban.
Begin was heckled vigorously on the El Al issue by Laborites who saw the Sabbath ban as a surrender to the Orthodox Aguda Israel in order to preserve his government’s narrow Knesset margin.
Begin said his government would not “take account of any threats,” a reference to warnings by El Al employes that they would fight against the Sabbath ban, possibly by a general strike. He urged El Al workers “to maintain industrial peace for the next several years,” claiming that if they did, “El Al will no longer need subsidies to stay alive.”
Begin said the three-month deadline for imposing the Sabbath ban was firm. In that way he sought to allay suspicion by the Aguda Israel that the government intended to drag its feet, possibly until new elections are called.
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.
