Israelis take tough action to clear Sinai

Press, 2 March 1982, Page 9

Israelis take tough action to clear Sinai

By

CHRISTOPHER

WALKER of “The Times”

(through NZPA) Kerem Shalom, Gaza The penultimate stage of Israel’s withdrawal from the remaining 31,000 square kilometres of occupied Sinai has begun with the mounting of one of the largest and most contentious security operations in the history of the State. All roads to the area are now blocked by a formidable series of Army and police barricades. At the week-end Mr Menachem Begin, the Prime Minister, told an angry delegation of Sinai settlers that the new blocks will stay in position until the territory is handed back to Egypt as agreed at Camp David. Militant Jews, opposed to the pull-back for ideological reasons, have quickly resorted to potent emotional tactics to counter the move. Deliberately stirring memories of the Holocaust, many have pinned yellow stars to their breasts and begun taunting Israeli soldiers with cries of “Nazis” and “kapos.” Soldiers whom I spoke to were reluctant to discuss their difficult new role beyond stating in no uncertain terms that foreign journalists were among the many categories of people no longer permitted to set foot in Sinai. But the “Jerusalem Post” reported from the largest settlement of Yamit that some of the Israeli troops enforcing the new orders were in tears. “Many were clearly apologetic and sorrowful,” the newspaper added. Inside the barricaded area, tension rose sharply as. reports began to filter back . from Jerusalem of Mr Begin’s firm stand on the issue of the road blocks — set up to prevent the threatened influx of thousands of protesters opposed to the evacuation. By noon, settlers from the “stop the withdrawal” campaign had begun to erect their own makeshift blocks of old cars and tractors at the main crossroads near Yamit. However, after a personal intervention by LieutenantGeneral Rafael Eitan, the Israeli Army chief of staff, who flew into the desert by helicopter, the campaigners’ road-blocks were temporar- , ily removed. Plans were then; set in train for an urgent meeting between the militants and Mr Ariel Sharon, ■

the Defence Minister. In a separate intervention designed to avoid possible bloodshed, Israel’s two chief rabbis addressed an open letter to Sinai militants,-stat-ing that to violently resist the country’s security forces or to start a civil war, would be “a grave sin.” The large quantities of sophisticated riot-control equipment, barbed wire, troop reinforcements, and emergency medical facilities which have been brought into the region should be sufficient to dispel any remaining Egyptian doubts about the Government’s determination to meet the April 26 deadline. The clamp-down, which went into effect at midnight on Friday, has already provoked fierce criticism from extreme Right-wing members of the Knesset, one of whom went so far as to accuse Mr Begin of starting a Jewish civil war. The small Tehiya (Renaissance) party will challenge the government with a motion of no confidence, but commentators expect Mr Begin’s slender majority to hold up. At the weekly Cabinet session at the week-end, Mr Begin and Mr Sharon received full, backing from coalition Ministers for the blocking operation. The view of the majority of members was summed up afterwards by one Minister who remarked that it was “high time” that such firm action was taken. Inside Yamit and the surrounding 13 Sinai agricultural settlements, an ultimatum by the stop-the-with-drawal campaigners to remove the Army barricades by 8 a.m. Sunday morning, came to nothing. Throughout the week-end a frenetic round of meetings — some very heated — was taking place in an effort to coordinate tactics against the • Government move, which appears to have beta unexpected at this time. Reports' spoke of a split. Several thousand opponents of the Sinai withdrawal demonstrated noisily in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon. During the demonstration, largely made up of young, , Jewish religious students, Rabbi Haim Druckman, the Deputy Minister for , Religious Affairs, promised ■’. to resign from the Government if the military road blocks were not soon disman- > »tied. ■