Springing Some More Surprises

The Begin puzzle

In the two months that he has been Israel's Premier, Menachem Begin has proved to be something of a puzzle to the Carter Administration--and to the Arabs as well. His Likud coalition barely squeaked into power in an upset election, and Begin, a mild-mannered former underground leader who looks all of his 64 years, scarcely seemed like a man of destiny. Yet today Begin is riding a high wave of popularity in Israel. During his Washington visit last month, Begin affably insisted that "everything" was negotiable in the Middle East. Then, as soon as he got back to Jerusalem, he confounded the Carter Administration by legalizing three previously unauthorized Israeli settlements that had been built on the West Bank. More than that, Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan announced that Israel would accept no foreign rule--meaning even Jordanian--on the West Bank. What, everyone wondered, might the unpredictable Begin do next?

Last week the Premier added to his reputation for springing surprises. First, his government announced that it would extend to Arabs on the West Bank and Gaza the welfare benefits and child labor laws that cover Israeli citizens. It could certainly be argued that Jerusalem's aims were humanitarian rather than political, as the government stoutly insisted. But the move also looked very much like a deliberate extension of Israeli authority over territories that Begin not only considers to be part of Israel, but insists on calling by their biblical names, Judea and Samaria.

Then, two days later, in blunt defiance of previous warnings by Jimmy Carter against further Israeli colonization of occupied lands, Jerusalem announced that it would build still more settlements--a grand total of 35--in the occupied territories. Three are to be established immediately on the West Bank. The government's lame explanation for the decision: the new settlements were included in a plan approved by the previous regime.

The announcements caused a stir in Israel, where the reaction seemed to be admiration for Begin's boldness mixed with some misgivings about what the Tel Aviv daily Ha'aretz described as "deepening our involvement in the lives of [the occupied] areas." Washington reacted angrily. Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz was promptly summoned to the State Department; there he was deliberately shuffled off to hear a stern lecture on the "illegality" of the newly announced settlements from Under Secretary Philip Habib, rather than from Cyrus Vance, with whom Dinitz usually deals. In Jerusalem, U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis called on Begin to express the same concerns. Begin listened to the U.S. complaints, but then insisted that he had merely been carrying out some campaign pledges. That explanation may help Begin with his admiring local public, but it does little to calm Washington's growing unease about his government--and nothing at all to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.