Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130006
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JERUSALEM LENGTH: Medium
Agriculture Minister Rafael Eitan, a member of the Cabinet's defense committee, said Israel should deport the leaders of the 30-month-old Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to quell the revolt.
The government moves on its first working day suggested Israel is set on a collision course with the United States.
Washington opposes deportations of Palestinians and the Jewish settlements on lands seized from Arabs in the 1967 Middle East war. It also has urged Israel to show restraint in dealing with the uprising against Israeli rule.
Since the rebellion began, 717 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or civilians, and 45 Israelis have also died in the violence.
Israeli newspapers across the political spectrum were critical of the new coalition government, made up of 10 rightist and religious factions led by the Likud bloc of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Parliament approved the government Monday.
The independent Haaretz daily wrote that Shamir's proposed polices "will only worsen Israel's international isolation." The left-leaning Al Hamishar said they would "cause further incitement among the Palestinian population."
Shamir's coalition was built with the help of defectors lured by promises of Cabinet posts and money.
Foreign Minister David Levy, a key campaigner against U.S. Middle East peace proposals, said Tuesday he would try to patch up strained relations with Washington, but did not elaborate.
Defense Minister Moshe Arens said in an unusually candid interview published Tuesday in Yediot Ahronot that Bush had "an obsession concerning the settlements" and suggested the president knew little about the subject.
"I'm not certain President Bush ever saw a settlement in his life," said Arens, the outgoing foreign minister. "He is among those who imagine a settlement as a place where a few guys sit in a small tent. He, like many others, doesn't know we are talking about a massive presence in Judea, Samaria and Gaza."
Judea and Samaria are the biblical names for the West Bank, where about 70,000 Jewish settlers live alongside 1 million Arabs. About 7,000 Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip.
by CNB