Scolded by Shamir, Zionists Withdraw Settlement Stance
World Jews, whose backing is crucial for Israel, abandoned a resolution today opposing settlement of Soviet Jews on occupied Arab land after bitter debate and a warning by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
Shamir told the World Zionist Organization that warnings of war over the Soviet Jews were an Arab ruse to sabotage their immigration to Israel.
Moments before Shamir, a champion of Jewish settlement in occupied territory, addressed the WZO general council, its members argued heatedly over the issue.
Some of the 150 delegates yelled insults at each other over the draft resolution which in effect called for no Soviet Jews to be settled in the occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip.
One of the delegates who proposed the settlement resolution, Hillel Shuval, said it had been intended as a warning to Israel that the Jewish state might not receive the full backing of world Jewry if it continues with “irresponsible” policies.
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