Israelis agree on firm stance

Press, 29 January 1988, Page 6

Israelis agree on firm stance

NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv Representatives of Israel’s two most powerful political parties, in a rare display of agreement, said yesterday that Israel must continue to exert control in its occupied territories despite world condemnation of its handling of Palestinian protests. “The worst thing that can happen to us is to be afraid of what (the world) will say,” a Rightwing Likud Member of Parliament, Dan Meridor, told a television interviewer. “We sometimes need to pay the price of a little bad press ... but in the long haul we have to defend ourselves ... and (also) make an effort to protect our image,” he said. Yossi Beilin (Labour Party), director-general of the Foreign Ministry, said: “We need to understand from the start that ... if we decide to take steps like deportation it will be impossible to explain (to the world).” But, he added, “We need to act on these steps.”

Their comments came after security sources said Israeli Cabinet Ministers had postponed the deportation of five Palestinian activists from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to prevent further damage to Israel’s reputation. They said the Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and Defence Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, decided not to deport until at least Sunday the five who are accused of inciting violent protests against Israeli rule. “Shamir, Peres and Rabin decided to postpone the deportations because of the international reaction to what is happening in Israel ... and because they might cause the riots to begin again and damage Israel’s image,” a security source said. Israeli troops have shot dead 39 Palestinians, wounded more than 700 by gunfire and beatings and arrested 2000 in seven weeks of protests in territories captured from Jordan and Egypt in the 1967 Middle East War.