Israeli Official Criticizes Gov't.

A left-wing Israeli parliament member yesterday criticized Israel's behavior during the Palestinian uprising and said her nation should begin negotiations with Palestinians since they have recognized Israel's right to exist.

Speaking before a packed audience in Jefferson Hall, Knesset-member Shulamit Aloni said civil rights abuses by the Israeli goverment violate Jewish and democratic principles. Aloni is founder and head of the Civil Rights and Peace Movement party, which holds five seats in the Knesset.

"We live by Jewish values...We cannot live by them and oppress people," Aloni said. "An army cannot face people who stand up for their rights."

But Aloni stopped short of criticizing the behavior of General Amram Mitzna, who commanded Israeli forces in the central district of the West Bank until June.

"Under the limits of the government and the army, he dealt with the situation very well," she said. Mitzna's presence as a fellow at the Center for International Affairs has sparked protest among pro- Palestinian activists in Cambridge this fall.

Aloni described the present opportunity for negotiating a settlement of the Palestinian problem as a "kind of a turning point in the Israeli mood."

But, she warned, continuing Israeli refusals to compromise show that "the renewed messianic dream, the power of the army, and the deep nationalistic pride lead people to believe they own the place."

Aloni said that until last November, "The Palestinian people and the Arab world were not ready to recognize the right of the Jewish people to exist."

Now, she said, they recognize that "if the people would have freedom and an identity, they'd have to accept the state of Israel."

Aloni added that religious differences and Israel's reluctance to accept the Palestinians' choice of negotiators, namely the Palestinian Liberation Organization, remain the principal obstacles to a settlement. But she said Israel should accept the P.L.O. as a negotiating power.

"If the Palestinians decide that the P.L.O. is the representative then the P.L.O. is the representative," she said. Aloni also strictly emphasized that both sides should try to keep overt religious concers away from political decisions.

"Once it becomes a holy war," she speculated, "I [would] know where it's going to end."

Aloni said she hoped Palestinians would ultimately win self- determination and political freedom, a combination conservative Israelis have opposed. "You give a minority autonomy in additon to political rights, not instead of them."

Aloni said the U.S. should increase its pressure on Israel to negotiate. Pressure from public opinion, she said, would be more effective than financial pressure because "if you want to influence people, you don't want to put them into a corner."