TOUGH STANCE FOLLOWED FEAR OF BEGIN PLANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150065-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 29, 2012
• Sequence Number: 65
• Publication Date: September 9, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150065-7
k
A:17. I CLE APPEARED
ON PAGE F---16
? Tough Stance
Followed Fear
Of Begin Plans
The story behind President Rea-
gan's sudden firmness with Israel
over the West Bank is told in secret
State Department dispatches. They
make elear what Reagan's advisers
fear Israel might do in the occupied
territory unless deterred by the
United States.
1/4 , One secret report seen by my as-
- sociate Dale Van Atta puts it bluntly
and ominously: "There is reason to
fear that the Israeli government
might capitalize on demonstrations
in the occupied territories, or even
provoke such demonstrations, in
order to expel large numbers of
Arabs as 'security risks.' [Israeli] de-
fense officials admit such contingen-
cy plans exist."
It's no laughing matter to accuse
an ally of willingness to stage a prov-
ocation, especially an ally with as
much domestic political clout as Is-
rael has. So it is a measure of the
concern that top U.S. officials have
over Prime Minister Menachem Be-
'gin's actions and suspected inten-
tions that they unanimously urged
the president to get tough with Is-
rael. If Alexander M. Haig Jr. had
still been secretary of state, the pres-
THE WASHINGTON POST
9 September 1982
ident might have held out, at least -
until after the November elections. .
Why would Israel want to expel
"large numbers of Arabs" from the
West Bank territory it captured in
the 1967 war? The resources?land
and water?of the West Bank can-
not support many more than the
800,000 Palestinians and 20,000
Jewish settlers now living there.
Yet Israel continues to build new
settlements in the disputed area; one
Israeli official has stated publicly
that he wants 250,000 Jews living
there by 1987. To achieve this goal,
about an equal number of Arabs
would have to be kicked out.
To buttress their suspicions of Is-
rael's ultimate goal for the West
Bank, State Department and CIA
experts point to a pattern of repres-,
sion by Israeli military occupation
forces that has emerged over the
past 15 years.
Punishment for actual or alleged
support of Palestinian? terrorist
groups has always been draconian:
Houses of relatives or sympathizers
are blown up, and 24-hour curfews
are imposed. Collective punishment
on villages is often exacted for the,
crimes of a few inhabitants. Harass-
ment of Arabs by armed gangs of
Jewish religious zealots is routinely
winked at by the occupation author-
ities.
The State Department used to.
send its own observers into the West
Bank to investigate allegations of re-
pression, but it stopped the practice
when contents of the incriminating
, cables were leaked, embarrassing
both the Israelis and the U.S. gov-
ernment, which did nothing to stop:
the incidents.
Over the years, I have -sent my'
own reporters to the West Brink-,?
Ron McRae in 1980, Peter Grant in
1981, and Van Atta just a few weeks
ago. They talked to both Israeli and .
Arab sources, and their reports made
clear the pattern of Israeli behavior.
I talked to Begin about the West
Bank in Jerusalem recently, and this -
is what he said: Israel is willing to :
grant "total autonomy" to the West -
:Bank Arabs, allowlpg them A-their
own civil administration.
But the catch?and it's big --
one?is this: Israel Would be the pn)-
tector of the West Bank. There:
would be no Arab army, only Israeli'
troops.
By their own civil admmistrators, .
Begin presumably `meant the village -
leagues, organizations of Arabs who'
are not inflamed by Palestinian na-'
tionalism and are willing to live in
s an Israeli protectorate. Needless- to ."
say, fervent Palestinian nationalists:
regard them as Israeli puppets. -
There seems increasing reason to
_believe that Begin and his top asso-
ciates intend to keep the West Bank.
',Whether they do it by outright an-
nexation or in the-guise of a protec-
torate, this -is sure to-keep the Pal-
estinian issue boiling. That's why
Reagan was persuaded to make, his
rhetorical pre-emptive strike.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100150065-7