Palestinian Rights Hold Key to Security, Thatcher Tells Israel

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told Israelis on Sunday that their security rests on “recognizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”

Thatcher, who is on a three-day visit in Israel, made the comment at a state banquet in response to a request by Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres for her help in peace efforts.

“We believe you will only find the security you seek by recognizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” she said at the dinner hosted by Peres in the Israeli Parliament.

During two hours of talks earlier Sunday, Peres appealed to Thatcher to explore with moderate Arab leaders ways to revitalize the peace process.

She urged Israel to lift its ban on local elections in the occupied West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip.

“A future in which two classes of people have to coexist with different rights and different standards is surely not one which Israel can accept.”

She urged Israel to allow “the Palestinians to play a greater role in managing their own affairs” to encourage “the emergence of responsible political leaders ready for peace.”

Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the 1967 Middle East War. It has barred elections in the territories since 1976, when a vote brought overwhelming victories to supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Peres said Israel is trying to improve life for the 1.4 million Palestinians in the territories, but he urged “a strategy of patience.” He said Israel’s first priority is to improve its ties with Egypt, the only Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state.

Thatcher has reservations about several ideas Peres has floated to keep Mideast peace on the international agenda, British officials said.

One official said that a regional economic plan Peres advocated could be “distracting from the main idea, which we believe is a political settlement.”

Earlier Sunday, Thatcher paid tribute to the 6 million Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust--”the worst thing the world has ever seen”--and laid a wreath at a British military cemetery, where reporters saw her wipe away tears.