Israel to shift hard-liners today

Press, 20 April 1982, Page 9

Israel to shift hard-liners today

NZPA-Reuter Jerusalem Israel today begins the shifting of more than 1000 squatters who are determined to stay in the Sinai. But the likely bitter confrontation between Jewish soldiers and militant Israeli nationalists is not being covered by journalists because of an order by the Defence Minister (Mr Ariel Sharon) yesterday barring newsmen from the closed military area.

- Any reporters or photographers found there, would be automatically arrested and detained for 36 hours, he said.

The military authorities hope that absence of news media will make it easier to persuade the squatters, most of whom cite religious grounds for staying, to leave Yamit without bloodshed, officials said. The southern area commander, Major-General Haim Eres, in last-minute instructions to Israeli soldiers, said: “This is not a war, and the opponents are not the enemy.” Some of the militant squatters have threatened to commit suicide. One group, barricaded in an underground bunker, said they would gas themselves if the Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin) implemented his pledge to evacuate the area. «

The ' Government flew in two leading rabbis who vainly tried to persuade the extremists that suicide would be against the Jewish faith and the teachings of the Bible.

Rabbi Abraham Shapiro, a white-bearded figure in a wide-brimmed black hat, and the chief Army rabbi (MajorGeneral Gad Navon) stood in the desert sun at tne top of an air shaft pleading with the extremists below.

In the crowd around them, other rabbis who oppose the withdrawal from Sinai argued differently, saying that in special, extreme circumstances suicide was permissible.

The extremists, many of them American-born, are followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defence League. Their supporters say there are about 20 of them in the bunker although some Yamit residents doubt there are that many. They have food and, it is asserted, canisters of gas. As the deadline approaches for the withdrawal, due to be completed by April 26, diplomatic efforts to solve remaining problems between Israel and Egypt were being conducted with increasing urgency. An American Under-Secre-tary of State, Walter Stoes-. sei, yesterday conveyed to Mr Begin the results of two days of talks with Egyptian leaders in Cairo.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister (Mr Kamal JHassan Ali) was due to join them today in the negotiations to solve a dispute over the demarcation at 15 points along the new border.

Israel has also accused Egypt of violating the agreements which limit the number of troops allowed in Sinai, and complained of growing ties between Egypt and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

The tension between Israel and Egypt has aroused fears that Israel might delay the pull-back until its demands nave been met. A Government spokesman said yesterday that the .decision on whether to complete the withdrawal on time would be taken at an extraordinary Cabinet meeting tomorrow.