Khalil wants to squeeze West on occupied lands

Press, 10 April 1979, Page 8

Khalil wants to squeeze West on occupied lands

NZPA-Reuter Cairo The Egyptian Prime Minister (Dr Mustapha Khalil) wants Arab States to put strong economic pressure on the West to make Israel give up occupied Arab lands, Cairo newspapers have said. Speaking to Parliamentary committees, Dr Khalil said Arab countries should refuse to make any new investment of their oil wealth in the West and exploit their control of oil supplies. He ruled out an Arab military conquest of the territory sought from Israel by the Palestinians and their supporters. Dr Khalil was quoted by three newspapers including the semi-official “Al Ahram.” He was explaining Egypt’s stance since the signing of a peace treaty with Israel that hard-line Arab States oppose.

The reports said the Prime Minister was not seeking a withdrawal of Arab investment from the West, or a new oil embargo. But he urged that new investments should be blocked, and that imports from the West should be reduced. Dr Khalil said Arab States should concert oil policy to take account of the world energy crisis and the impact the level of supplies from them could have on recognition of Palestinian rights.

He cited the crisis thrust on the West by the complete shut-down of oil supplies from Iran this year during the final weeks before the Shah’s downfall. The Prime Minister criticised as negative a decision by 19 Arab countries to impose a political, diplomatic and economic boycott of

Egypt because of its treaty with Israel. He indicated that Egypt regarded their threats as empty. Only a tiny part of Egypt’s economy is dependent on inter-Arab trade. Dr Khalil called on Parliament to reject an AmericanIsraeli memorandum which was annexed to the United States-sponsored peace pact. The Egyptian Government has already done so. Under it, the United States is pledged to intervene on Israel’s behalf if Egypt violates the treaty. A report from Tel Aviv says Israeli bulldozers have demolished an Arab’s house on the occupied West Bank of the Jordan in an area designated for a road to link Jewish settlements, according to military Government sources. The house, outside the village of Aram near Ramallah, was built after the land had been - seized by Israeli authorities, according to the sources. It was also reported

yesterday that residents of Kiryat Arba, a Jewish village near Hebron had defied Government orders and built a brick house on a hill overlooking the town. Jewish settlers said this was in protest against what they termed lack of sufficient Israeli settlement activity around the suburb. Last week two Israeli Cabinet ministers clashed publicly over Government policy on the creation of Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

In Jerusalem, thousands of Christian pilgrims marched down the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday, celebrating Christ’s triumphant entry to Jerusalem. Only hours before, the police had found a Katyusha rocket launcher on the outskirts of the city, overlooking the procession route.

In Tel Aviv, the leader of a Palestinian commando squad captured off the Israeli coast last week said yesterday that the guerrillas had intended to murder as many Israelis as they could in a suicide mission.

The six-member squad and five crewmen aboard the freighter Stefanie were intercepted by an Israeli patrol boat in the Mediterranean. Kamel Affif Ibrahim Haled Assafi, of the Fatah organisation, told a radio interviewer his group had been sent to Israel by Abu Jihad, head of Fatah’s special operations branch, to “kill women, old people, and children.” Asked what escape routes had been planned for the guerrillas, Kamel said “We were not to escape. We were sent to die in a suicide operation.”