Ministers want Sharon to go

Press, 11 February 1983, Page 6

Ministers want Sharon to go

NZPA-Reuter Jerusalem

Mr Ariel Sharon s political future was still uncertain last evening as the Cabinet prepared to accept the findings of a judicial inquiry into the Beirut massacre which ecommended that he resign as Defence Minister. A senior Government official said after yesterday’s emergency Cabinet session, the second in two days since the commission published its report, that a clear majority of Ministers had favoured implementing the inquiry’s recommendation. But Government sources said that Mr Sharon had still not indicated that he would resign even in the face of the Cabinet decision. The three-man commission found that Mr Sharon bore the main part of Israel's indirect responsibility for the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian civilians by Lebanese Christian Falangists in September. The official said that the Cabinet would complete its discussion today after hearing statements from the Military Intelligence chief, Major-General Yehoshua Sa-

guy, whom the commission recommended should be dismissed, and the Beirut forces commander, Brigadier-Gen-eral Amos Yaron, who the panel said should be barred from combat command posts for three years.

Meanwhile, the possibility that the Prime Minister, Mr Menachem Begin, would act to dissolve Parliament and call a new General Election grew after two of his coalition partners, the National Religious Party and Tami. which draws support from

Oriental Jews, said they might support such a move. Both parties had earlier been reluctant about new elections. fearing their Parliamentary strength might be severely cut. Mr Sharon's supporters are trying to drum up public support for him to remain in his post. While the Cabinet met yesterday more than 1000 of his supporters demonstrated outside the Prime Minister’s office shouting pro-Sharon slogans and calling him “Arik. King of Israel.”

One prominent Sharon supporter. a Knesset (Parliament) member, David Magen, is arguing that the phrase used in the commission report that Mr Sharon should “draw personal conclusions” does not necessarily mean he should quit.

But the senior Cabinet official said that this view was not generally accepted by other Ministers and most Cabinet members hoped that he might resign rather than prolong the crisis. Mr Begin has a Constitutional power to dismiss any Minister, but yesterday told several Government leaders that he did not intend to use it against Mr Sharon.