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Candlelighting: Friday, September 9, 7:20 p.m.
75$
VOL. LXI, ^SO. 33
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8,1994
3 TISHRI, 5755
By DAVID LANDAU
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel reportedly has assured the United States that it will not respond to any diplomatic overtures from Iraq.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin conveyed the assurance to Warren Christopher during the U.S.
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secretary of state*s shuttle trip to the region, according to media reports here.
It followed an overture several weeks ago by Iraqis at the United Nations, to which Israel is understood to have responded coolly.
Rabin told Christopher that Jerusalem wholeheartedly endorses the Clinton administration's "dual containment" policy, which seeks to isolate and contain both Iran and Iraq.
This is the same line that Israeli diplomats abroad reportedly have been instructed to follow.
An Iraqi official reportedly expressed interest in ongoing peace moves in the
region to Gad Ya'acobi, Israeli ambassador to the U.N., who cabled home for instructions.
"TaWdM; reportedly was told, in effect, to rebuff his colleague from Baghdad.
Recently, according to Israeli reports, a further message arrived in Jerusalem that once again expressed Iraq's clear interest in being appraised of the situation in the regional peace process.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Azziz visited Amman, Jordan, and met with leading government officials there for what the Jordanians said was a series of
By CYNTHIA MANN
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Pressing forward with the next phase of the Isradl-Falestlnmn peace initiative, the Israeli Cabinet has unanimously ratified an agreement that transfers control over civilian affairs to Palestinians throughout the West Bank.
The Cabinet took the step despite calls from Israeli opposition leaders for the ministers to suspend the accord because of a terrorist attack within Israel's borders that left two Israelis dead.
The so-called '"early empowerment" agreement, which was initiated by Israel and Palestinian authorities, provides for the transfer of control to the Palestinians over taxation, education, health, social welfare and tourism.
The timing for the imple- "This proves that the year has been handed over, mentation of the accord, peace process does not end due to calls from the donors
which was approved by the Palestinian governing authority, still has to be worked out.
However, because of the start of the new school year on Sept. 1, control over education in the West Bank's seven school districts officially fell under Palestinian control last week.
The overall agreement was signed at the Erez checkpoint separating the Gaza Strip and Israel by the leaders of the two negotiating teams, Maj. Gen. Danny Rothschild for Israel and his Palestinian counterpart", Nabil Sha'ath.
with Gaza and Jericho, but will include all Palestinians in all parts of the West Baiik,"Sha*athsai«i.
Rothschild told reporters that Palestinians will assume control over health, welfare, taxation and tourism after a Sept. 8-10 meeting in Paris at which the two sides will meet with representatives of foreign donor countries.
In the wake of the signing of the self-rule accord last September in Washington, foreign countries pledged more than $2 billion in aid to the Palestinians over the next several years. But little of the pledged aid for this
for the Palestinians governing authority to create strict accounting procedures that will make it clear how the money is being spent.
Palestinian officials hope the Paris meeting will help overcome the financial difficulties standing in the way of implementing early empowerment.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat had originally been scheduled to sign the accord at Erez. It was unclear whether the terrorist attack near Tel Aviv was
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"Today we are moving away from years of folly in which we tried to control the lives of two million Palestinians against their will in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," stated Amos Ben-Gurion, son of Israel's legendary founding father, David Ben-Gurion.
Keynote speaker at the recent Ben-Gurion University of the Negev tribute dinner to Cantor Murray Nixon, Ben-Gurion insisted that the current politics towards peace was the correct route. "By absorbing ... and denying them their national aspiration for nationhood in their own territory, we created a time bomb in the heart of Israel."
He added that if the situation were to continue "900,000 Ismeli Arabs wduld be drawn into the conflict and a Lebanese, scenario weald be in sii
A former member of Haganah and Major General in the Israeli police force, he is now on the board of governors of the university named after his famous father.
In addition to his-remarks on the uniqueness and important role of the university, he talked of how his father would
possibly have viewed the current political situation in Israel.
Amos, as a boy of 16, wrote his father a strong letter objecting to his father's agreement to the 1937 royal commission recommending the partition of Palestine. He quoted his father's response: "Political issues are not the domain of the emotion ... my feelings are not hurt at all by having a Jewish state that is a small one. What we do not want is a large Palestine that would not be Jewish."
This, said his son, was said in 1937. Then in 1967 with the capture of the West Bank and Gaza, Ben-Gurion foresaw the danger of absorbirig two million Arabs into the Jewish State. "Such an act, he thought, would destroy the Jewish character of Israel."
tils father would never have ■ comprehended denying the Arabs full rights, he said, adding, "We have to negotiate with the' Palestinians a settlement that takes into account our need for security and their aspiration for national recognition."
David Ben-Gurion used to say, "The principle way the Jews can reclaim their
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ancient land is not by argument but by their labors." He saw the vast spaces of the Negev as vital to Israel's future.
Amos Ben-Gurion reflects the dream of his father whose belief in the Negev, he said, was unbounded. He saw the building of the country as linked to the exploitation of all scientific and technological discoveries. "My father saw Shis area as vital for economic and security reasons. This was his dream."
Ben-Gurion University, he said, reflects this dream, these
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