338. Editorial Note
On February 10, 1980, the Israeli Cabinet released a communiqué stating that the Israeli Government has “no objections” to Jews living in the West Bank city of Hebron, “as in any other part of the land of Israel.” The Cabinet decision came ten days after the fatal shooting of a 23-year old Jewish student in the Hebron market, responsibility for which was claimed by a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. (David K. Shipler, “Israel Moves to Allow Jews to Resettle in Arab Hebron,” The New York Times, February 11, 1980, page A1) The Cabinet’s move, reported by the Embassy in Tel Aviv, was not an entirely new statement of policy as the Likud government “has always supported the right of Jews to live anywhere in Eretz Yisrael; it has in practice, however, barred settlement of Jews within wholly Arab towns on the West Bank. The specific reference to Hebron in the context of the reaffirmation of this right possibly foreshadows a change in the application of that policy.” However, no timetable for the implementation of the terms of the communiqué was set. (Telegram 2739 from Tel Aviv, February 11; National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800074–0170) The complete Cabinet communiqué was forwarded to Washington in telegram 2669 from Tel Aviv, February 11. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D800073–0779)