Annex Part of West Bank, Gaza, Sharon Urges Israel

JERUSALEM — Israel’s hawkish industry and trade minister, Ariel Sharon, said Tuesday that he will submit a plan to his Likud Bloc colleagues in the Cabinet today calling for Jerusalem to effectively annex large portions of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The former defense minister said it is urgent that the government act to fill a psychological and political vacuum left by King Hussein’s announcement late last month that Jordan is severing its legal and administrative ties to the West Bank.

The proposal by Sharon, the architect of Israel’s controversial 1982 invasion of Lebanon, is opposed both by the Labor Alignment half of Israel’s ruling “national unity” coalition and by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who heads the Likud Bloc. It is thus believed to have virtually no chance of timely government approval.

High-Level Concern

However, the plan does illustrate high-level concern here over the strategic implications of Hussein’s move and the subsequent diplomatic and public relations offensive launched by the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Sharon’s announcement at a Jerusalem news conference is also seen as part of an internal political struggle over the future leadership of the Herut Party, which is the dominant faction in the right-wing Likud.

Hussein’s landmark announcement, in which he also asserted Palestinians’ rights to set up a state and said he would recognize it, appears to have upended many longstanding assumptions about possible solutions to the Palestinian problem. It has also, at least temporarily, derailed a U.S.-led Middle East peace initiative that depended on Hussein representing the Palestinians at an international conference.

Capitalizing on the situation, PLO leaders have called an emergency meeting of the Palestine National Council, a sort of Palestinian parliament in exile. And they have hinted broadly that they intend a dramatic policy shift of their own: recognizing Israel, forming an interim Palestinian government and unilaterally declaring an independent state in the occupied territories.

Shamir told reporters Tuesday that Israel “will never negotiate with the PLO” and that it will prevent the organization from taking over the West Bank. “We will not allow anybody in this country to do anything against the will and the power of the state and of the government,” he said.

However, Sharon, at his news conference, said he is concerned about the growing sophistication of the PLO. He said he is worried that it will declare a PLO government and “that many countries will recognize this newly declared independent Palestinian state.” That, he noted, could create significant diplomatic headaches for Israel.

Vital for Security

“Therefore, I propose that Israeli law be extended now” to large portions of the territories that both Likud and Labor agree are vital to ensuring Israeli security, Sharon said.

He added that even though Labor members of the Cabinet are opposed to his plan, he will push for a Cabinet vote if he gets the support of his Likud colleagues today.

Even that appears unlikely, however, since Shamir has said he opposes extending Israeli law to the territories as a violation of international commitments Israel made with Egypt under the 1978 Camp David accords. Those agreements left the ultimate status of the territories for future negotiations with the Arabs.