Israel tries to ease tensions with Sweden.

405 words 15 May 1995 Reuters News LBA English (c) 1995 Reuters Limited JERUSALEM, May 15 (Reuter) - Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, hoping to ease nearly half a century of strained relations with Sweden, has condemned the 1948 murder by Jewish guerrillas of U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte. But one of the guerrillas later said he was unrepentant, and that it had been necessary to kill Bernadotte. Peres said on Monday he had reiterated Israel's apology of many years ago at a Tel Aviv ceremony late on Sunday in honour of the count and other Swedes who helped save Jews from the Nazi Holocaust in World War Two. "I issued a condemnation of terror, thanks for the rescue of the Jews and regret that Bernadotte was murdered in a terrorist way," Peres told Israel Radio. A spokesman quoted Peres as also saying he hoped the ceremony would help heal the wound. But Yehoshua Zetler, one of the men involved in the killing, objected to Peres's action. "Get rid of the word murder. We executed Folke Bernadotte. Whoever lived in those days in Jerusalem is able to understand the background to it," Zetler told Israel Television. "I would not apologise," Zetler said. "It was necessary to kill him." Bernadotte, a Swedish count appointed to mediate in the 1948 Middle East war, was assassinated in September of that year by the Stern Gang whose leaders included Yitzhak Shamir, later an Israeli prime minister. The Stern Gang opposed Bernadotte's policies, including the internationalisation of Jerusalem. Asked if he was among those who made the decision Zetler said: "Lehi (Stern Gang) people decided and I carried it out." Peres appeared to confirm Israeli news reports that Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Mona Sahlin, who attended the ceremony, had cut short her trip when Israel objected to her visiting PLO headquarters in Arab East Jerusalem. But he played down any suggestion of a diplomatic row. "We told them that it will overshadow the evening and it is not accepted," he told Israel Radio. "So they've accepted it, and they said, 'In order not to create any scandals, anything like it, we shall shorten our visit and we shall come back in the near future," Peres said.

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Israel and the Palestinians both lay claim to Arab East Jerusalem. The sides are to negotiate the status of the holy city in final-settlement talks due to begin in May 1996. (c) Reuters Limited 1995 Document lba0000020011103dr5f07qtq

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