Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, on his first visit to the Gaza Strip since taking office, assured Jewish settlers that the territory would always be a part of Israel. He also promised local Arab leaders that Israel would not block international financial aid for Arab residents.
Rabin spoke to Israeli farmers at Katif, near the Sinai border, who expressed fear that their ultimate fate might be similar to that of the settlers forced to evacuate Yamit and surrounding villages in 1982 when Sinai was returned in full to Egypt.
But the Gaza territory, Rabin said, “geographically has always been part of the Biblical Land of Israel” and “in any event, it must remain an inseparable part of the State of Israel.” Rabin, however, would not give a direct answer to settlers who told him that talk of autonomy for the Palestinians in the area was “frightening” and asked for clarification.
“I’m not the one who invented autonomy so I don’t see myself qualified to give you an answer now,” he said. He was referring to the autonomy plan for Gaza and the West Bank agreed to in principle by Premier Menachem Begin, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and U.S. President Jimmy Carter when they signed the Camp David accords in 1978. The plan was never implemented because of the vastly different interpretations of autonomy by the Israelis and Egyptians.
WILL SEEK AID FOR GAZA ARABS
Rabin told reporters that Israel would seek international aid to help the Arabs in the city of Gaza and in the villages of the territory. But he added that governments and organizations which preach to Israel the necessity of improving the quality of life of Arabs in the occupied territories should provide some material assistance of their own.
This appeared to be an oblique thrust at the Egyptians and at the Reagan Administration which have been urging Israel to improve conditions for Palestinians in the territories.
Rabin told acting Mayor Mamzah Turkmah of Gaza that he would consider the mayor’s request to allow the transfer of $5 million provided by Saudi Arabia five years ago. The then Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon had refused and the money has remained ever since in a bank in Amman, Jordan.
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