Gahal Split Foreseen in Wake of Eshkol Interview
JERUSALEM — Gahal, the par-
liamentary alignment of the Herut
and Liberal parties which almost
precipitated a cabinet crisis over
alleged remarks of Prime Minister
Levi Eshkol in a Newsweek inter-
view, appeared Wednesday to be
facing a split in its own ranks.
Differences have developed be-
tween the leaders of the two fac-
tions over whether to remain in
the national coalition government.
The issue was the subject of a
party caucus Tuesday, the fourth
in 24 hours, which decided to refer
it to a joint conference of Herut
and Liberal leaders which was
to be held in Tel Aviv Thursday.
Menahem Begin, militant leader
of the right-wing, nationalistic
Herut, is known to favor leaving
the coalition which was set up as
-a government of "national unity"
on the eve of the June 1967 Arab-
Israel war. Joseph Saphlr, leader
of the Liberal party, apparently
favors staying in. He and Begin
are ministers-without-portfolio in
the Eshkol cabinet.
.Both leaders met with Prime
Minister Levi Eshkol and Dep-
uty' Prime Minister Yigal Allon
Tuesday and were persuaded to
support the government in a
Knesset vote on a motion of no
confidence introduced by the
splinter Free Center faction.
The motion stemmed from a re-
mark attributed to Eshkol by
Newsweek that Israel was not in-
terested in retaining the heavily
populated Arab centers on the
West Bank such as Nablus and
Jenin. Eshkol insisted that the re-
mark was not included in the tran-
script of his interview which
Newsweek senior editor Arnaud
de Borchgrave submitted for his
approval prior to publication.
The Gahal ministers accepted
the government's explanation that
Newsweek was guilty of a breach
of trust. But there was no denial
from any source that Eshkol made
the statement attributed to him off
the record. He has expressed such
views in the past, especially at
meetings of the Labor Party. But
he has never been explicit and
never before mentioned place
names, such as Nablus and Jenin,
as being outside the boundaries
JDC Refugee-Care
Program Assumes
New Proportions
GENEVA — The Joint Distribu-
tion Committee is currently taking
care of some 1,200 Jewish trans-
migrants from Eastern Europe and
the Near East. Living out of suit-
cases, they wait in Rome, Vienna
and Paris for the papers that will
let them move on to a new life.
This was revealed by Samuel L.
Haber, JDC executive vice-chair-
man, on his arrival at JDG's over-
seas headquarters after a swing
through Iran, Israel and Europe
where JDC conducts a wide range
of health and welfare operations
with funds from the United Jewish
Appeal.
The "refugee in transit" opera-
tion is currently costing JDC about
11 11010111101.0111011111~ft $120,000 a month, Haber said. He
pointed out that JDC expends ap-
CONNOISSEURS CLUB
proximately $25 a week for food,
lodging, and medical care for each
HOUDAY
refugee during the period in which
the United Hias Service processes
his travel papers and, depending
from Detroit
on the difficulties which may have
to
be untangled, this can take up
luxury, deluxe
to three months or longer.
fun, sun, sport
At the moment more than 800 of
holiday on the
the 1,200 transients are in Rome,
Spanish riviera . . .
including over 650 Jews from Po-
includes jet roundtrip,
land, the JDC executive said. An-
most meals, deluxe
other 200 are in Vienna, among
hotel, tips, transfers.
them a substantial number of
Golf, tennis, fish,
Czechs as well as Poles; 100—most
of whom recent arrivals from the
relax in the sun.
'Near East—are in Paris. In addi-
tion, he noted there are a few
complete
Eastern Europeans who have
found their way to Brussels, Ant-
LEAVING
werp and Stockholm.
April 18, 1969
Haber pointed out that, de-
pending on world events, the num-
PHONE
ber of transmigrants in JDC's care
BOOK-COUZENS
can fluctuate at any given time
TRAVEL
from a few hundred to several
BR 2-2400
thousand. He compared these
fluctuations to those of a Geiger
or evenings 547-2914
counter registering political and
*01101101010111011111111 economic fallout.
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that Israel considers necessary
for its security.
The Gahal faction is opposed to
Israel's withdrawal from any of
the occupied Arab territories. Be-
gin is believed to feel that now is
the time for it to withdraw from
the national coalition and reconsti-
tute itself as an opposition party.
He is said to be confident that
Herut could rally a large segment
of the population under the ban-
ner of a "Greater Israel" and win
a substantial vote in next fall's
national elections.
Apart from Saphir's differing
views, there appears to be disap-
pointment in both factions of
Gahal with the alignment's politic-
al performance to date.
The government withstood the
no-confidence vote Tuesday by a
vote of 74-5, with seven absten-
tions.
Meanwhile, in Paris, Israel's
condition for peace with the
Arabs were unveiled, apparently
for the first time, in an interview
given by Foreign Minister Abba
Eban to the newspaper Le Fi-
garo.
Eban referred specifically and
in detail to the permanent boun-
daries that Israel will demand and
stressed that they are based prim-
arily on his nation's security needs,
not on a desire for territorial ex-
pansion.
The foreign minister told what
areas Israel considers nonnegoti-
able under any circumstances.
These include Sharm el-Shiekh,
commanding the Straits of Tiran,
where Israel will insist on retain-
ing a military force to guarantee
non-closure to Israeli shipping;
the Golan heights of Syria which,
Israel insists, can never again be
used by Syrian gunners to blast
settlements; and the unified city
of Jerusalem, the capital, which
Israel will never yield. Eban said,
however, that Jordan might be al-
lowed custody over East Jerusalem
sites containing Moslem holy
places.
Eban emphatically rejected the
concept of a separate West Bank
Palestinian entity as "unrealistic
and even dangerous." He said the
West Bank's future would have to
be settled in an Israeli-Jordan
peace treaty. He recalled that
Eshkol- had said that the Jordan
River must be Israel's "security
frontier" though not necessarily
a political boundary.
And he cited a plan proposed
some months ago by Deputy
Prime Minister Yigal Allon un-
der which Jordan would have
political control over demilitar-
ized portions of the West Bank,
but only after a modification of
the frontier based on Israel's
security needs. Ile said Israel
would insist that new boun-
daries remain "open frontiers"
because "it would be absurd
that the iron curtain which has
been lifted by the cease-fire
should descend with the conclu-
sion of peace."
Eban said the status of the
Sinai Peninsula and the El Arish
region was entirely different from
that of the West Bank because it
lacks a sizeable local Arab popu-
lation. He described the region's
future as "an open question" on
which Israel is prepared to ne-
gotiate. except for "certain points
of rigidity" essential to security.
He made it plain that Israel will
never agree to restoration of the
frontiers of June 4, 1967, the day
before the Six-Day War broke out.
He also emphasized that 1949
armistice lines were legally term
ed "temporary and not definite
borders."
There is. Eban declared. a ma-
jor juridical difference. He ruled
out talks with representatives of
El Fatah or other Arab guerilla
groups. - With Jordan we can dis-
cuss a- common frontier. El Fatah,
however, questions Israel's very
existence and this ideology ipso
facto eliminates any possibility of
a dialogue between the two sides."
The Figaro interview made no
mention of Israel's right of free
passage through the Suez Canal
or of the Palestinian refugee prob-
lem. both considered to be major
factors in any future peace talks.
;v.* . .
Friday, February 14, 1969-11
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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