Blast, attacks, protests, threats mark Arab reaction to M.E. treaty

Press, 28 March 1979, Page 1

Blast, attacks, protests, threats mark Arab reaction to M.E. treaty

NZPA-Reuter Bagdad The bright hopes that marked the Washington signing yesterday of a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt cast a dark shadow across an embittered and increasingly militant Arab world.

Arab anger with President Sadat of Egypt mounted as Arab League Foreign and Economic Ministers met in Bagdad to plan political and economic sanctions against Egypt for making peace with its adversary of the last 30 years. In the streets of Bagdad, the Iraqi capital, an estimated half a million people held a mass demonstration against the treaty. They shouted, “Sadat, you donkey” and “Sadat, traitor.” Hard-line Iraq, one of the . most vehement critics of Mr Sadat’s moves towards peace with Israel, has made no official comment on the treaty signing. But officials said the Egyptian leader would be branded a traitor for his actions. In a very significant development, King Hussein

of Jordan has arrived in Bagdad. Hussein, previously regarded as among the most moderate and proWestern leaders in the Arab world, came from Damascus as Syria, Iraq, and Jordan appeared to be consolidating a new power line-up against the treaty. King Hussein attended an Arab summit meeting in Bagdad last November, but his relations with Iraq have been cool until recently. Diplomats said his move towards Iraq and Syria, which recently agreed to end a decade of hostility and signed a mutual defence pact intended to establish a strategic balance against posttreaty Israel, seemed to indicate that Hussein was apprehensive about possible repercussions of the treaty for his militarilyvulnerable country. Syria and Iraq are pressing for increased Soviet military support for the new alliance. As expected, reaction by the Palestinian guerrilla movement and by Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territory was strong.

A blast ripped through the market in the Israeli town of Lydda, killing one woman and injuring 18 other Israelis. Later, the Palestine news tgency, W.A.F.A., quoted a statement from the general command of Palestinian commandos in Beirut claiming responsibility for the explosion. Palestinians in Israelioccupied territory went on strike, declaring the day of the treaty signing as “a day of mourning.” Town halls and business premises were closed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the Jordan, where more than one million Arabs live under Israeli occupation. The chief of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Mr Yasser Arafat, said a false peace would not last, and declared that he wanted to “sever the hands” of the Israelis. In Geneva, where Arab Oil Ministers are meeting, Mr Tayah Abdel Larin, the Iraqi Minister, said: “If Sadat’s going to do this, we will treat him u> one who is going against our rights.”

The provisional Government of Iran said the treaty was meant to bring about the domination of the Middle Elast by Israel, “a tool of United States imperialism.” Demonstrations and marches took place throughout the Arab world Much of Muslim west Beirut closed down in pretest, and Left-wing and Palestinian forces launched heavy rocket and mortar attacks on Christian areas in southern Lebanon not far north of the Israeli town of Metullah. Palestinian-Leftist forces fired at three Israeli gunboats that tried to approach the southern Lebanon coast. in London, the United Nations Secretary-General (Dr Kurt Waldheim) said he had doubts about the effectiveness for the Middle East of the new treaty. He said the Palestinian issue remained "the crux of the problem,” and the substance of this had been left out of the treaty. Report from Washington, Page 6. Treaty signing, outlook, Page 8.