Weizman rejects demands for revenge on Arabs

Press, 7 May 1980, Page 9

Weizman rejects demands for revenge on Arabs

NZPA-Reuter Jerusalem Israel’s Defence Minister (Mr Ezer Weizman) has rejected extremist demands for punitive action against Palestinians of the occupied West Bank in revenge for the killing of six Jews by Palestinian guerrillas in theArab town of Hebron. He was addressing an; emotionally-charged special j session of the Israeli Knes-j set (Parliament) after the, ambush against Jewish settlers returning from Friday night prayers. “We are still on the road to a difficult solution with the Arabs of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Gaza Strip,” the Minister said. “With all the sorrow' and grief about the six dead, let us continue in our way and let us not play into the hands of those who, by killing, try to divert us from the way this Knesset rightly adopted in 1979.” He was referring to the Knesset’s decision to negotiate partial self-rule for) Palestinians, of the West Bank and Gaza. As Mr Weizman spoke the latest round of Palestinian autonomy was running into : acute difficulties in meetings? at the coastal resort of Her-11 zlia north of Tel Aviv. h Mr Weizman told the'

Knesset that the Government had decided to isolate ■ Hebron and the neighbouring village of Halhoul but hoped ■ it would not have' to take similar actions against other towns in the West Bank. Demands had been raised over the week-end not only i for strong retaliatory action by security forces but for a; i programme of heavy Jewish settlement in the occupied Hands to demonstrate Israel’s i determination to keep them under its own domination. But Mr Weizman said the Government had to take into account international opinion. The Hebron killings cast their shadow over the Herzlia talks where delegates of Israel, Egypt, and the United States spent most of the day arguing about procedures for a discussion of West Bank security under an autonomous regime. On the West Bank there were scattered disturbances during the day. Israeli forces fired tear-gas to drive away Arab schoolgirls who blocked a road near Ramallah with burning tyres. ' I The Israelis also rounded; up scores of Palestinians? from a refugee camp near! Tulkarem after Israeli ve-j hides were stoned during the night. i; One stone slightly injured';

the military governor of Tul- : karem, Lieutenant-Colonel : Shalom Musafi, who was last week involved in an incident which ended with the death of a Palestinian teenager. In Halhoul merchants who closed their shops in protest were forced by Israeli soldiers to reopen. In Jerusalem, Israel’s Supreme Court, has ruled that Mr Weizman and the West Bank military governor (General Benjamin Ben-Elie-zer) may not expel four Palestinian leaders from the West Bank. A Hebron doctor and, member of the Palestinian! National Council Ahmad, Hamzeh Natcheh, Bethle-j hem’s Deputy Mayor (Mr I Georges Hazboun), the Engineer’s Union president; (Mr Ibrahim Dakak), and the Lawyers’ Association president’ (Mr Jiries Khoury), were rumoured to be on a list for deportation following the attack on the Jewish settlers in Hebron. The four appealed to the Supreme Court to prevent such action, and the court agreed that there was no i cause for their expulsion, i Three other Palestinian offi- i cials have already been de- ; ported to Lebanon for alleg- ; edly making statements that i might be seen as supporting i the Palestinian guerrillas.