Word: knesset
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Still, Dayan provided some hints that the Israelis were preparing to be conciliatory on the Palestinian issue. The Foreign Minister touched off a stormy debate both among Knesset members and in the country as a whole by suggesting that the Palestine Liberation Organization had a rightful role to play in the peace process. Said Dayan: "The P.L.O. is not a state, but we cannot deny its position or its value in the conflict and eventually, in order to reach a solution." P.L.O. Leader Yasser Arafat dismissed Dayan's words as a "Zionist tap dance...
Begin also indicated that Israel was prepared to negotiate seriously on only one of the outstanding issues: Egypt's insistence that the security arrangements included in any treaty be reviewed after five years. The Premier was firmly backed by Israel's Knesset, which gave him a 66 to 6 vote of confidence on his tough stance toward Cairo and Washington. Said Opposition Leader Shimon Peres, usually a Begin critic: "Under pressure from the U.S., we will be united...
...that at times Begin has been flexible and Sadat has toughened his bargaining position, on balance Israel has been the less compromising and more frustrating negotiating partner. Part of Begin's stubbornness, of course, may be dictated by the realities of Israeli politics. His government needs support in the Knesset from hawks, who feel that Israel must have much of the occupied territory to preserve its security, and also from members of the religious parties, who generally oppose relinquishing lands that they feel were granted to Israel in the Old Testament. Since Camp David, Begin has been attacked harshly...
...Jerusalem, the Knesset's agony over whether or not to accept the accords was shared by the country at large. Most Israelis believe that they must retain a presence in the occupied territories as security against future Arab attacks. Religious Jews, moreover, consider much of this land as their God-ordained birthright. Begin shares the religious Zionist view that occupied territories where Jews lived in biblical times are rightfully part of Eretz Yisrael. In fact, he almost torpedoed the Camp David talks on that issue...
...demonstrate their anger, settlers from Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights snarled traffic in Jerusalem last week by staging a massive tractor drive-in. Later, a vociferous band of 2,000 protesters marched outside the Knesset waving banners that read WE BEG YOU NOT TO RETREAT FROM SINAI and BEGIN: ALWAYS IMPOSSIBLE TO RELY ON. Among the picketers were members of the 20 families that inhabit Ne'ot Sinai, one of 15 communities along the Mediterranean coast. The Ne'ot Sinai group was particularly angry with Begin: during a visit last year, he asked them...