Rabin Talking to Arabs, Says Uprising Fails

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said Tuesday that he has opened a dialogue with Palestinians because the Arabs now realize their uprising in the occupied lands has failed.

Rabin held two meetings with Arab leaders in less than a week, including one on Monday, but had said nothing previously about their purpose.

The defense minister said Tuesday on Israel Radio that he decided to meet with Arabs, including Palestine Liberation Organization supporters, because he is convinced that Palestinians now realize that “by stones and firebombs they can achieve nothing.”

Earlier this year, Rabin said he would talk with Palestinians only after the violence stopped. Analysts said the meetings indicate Rabin believes the rebellion is abating.

“I’m the one who represents the Israeli government to the population in the territories, and I think the time has come to talk with all sections, with all factions among the Palestinians,” Rabin said Tuesday. “I intend to continue meeting with people who represent different . . . points of view.”

Easing of Restrictions Sought

The Palestinian leaders presented Rabin with a list of requests to ease restrictions and what they termed “collective punishment measures” in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Arab participants said.

Rabin said he told the Palestinians that “the more we move toward quiet, the lighter would be the means used . . . and . . . we have no intention to take revenge when what they call the intifada is over.”

But Palestinian participants said Rabin could not predict any significant political movement.

“The minister said the (U.S. Secretary of State George) Shultz initiative has missed the train and we can’t expect anything” from the U.S.-Soviet Moscow summit, said Yasser Obeid, a physician from Ramallah in the West Bank.