Israel Expected to React to Rogers’ Statement Within Next Few Days

There was no official reaction here today to Secretary of State William P. Rogers’ announcement this morning of a new U.S. peace initiative in the Middle East. Following an extraordinary cabinet meeting today, Premier Golda Meir announced that she will make a major political statement in the next few days. Sources here believe it will contain Israel’s official reaction to the Rogers plan. Mrs. Meir said yesterday that Israel would reject any American proposals that Jeopardized her nation’s security. “I am not prepared to guarantee that the United States will not present us with a demand in the near or distant future that we shall be unable to accept,” she told a student audience at the new immigrant township of Migdal Haemek near Nazareth. Mrs. Meir was believed to have been referring to the latest peace proposals which are reportedly under intensive study here and are said to have been the subject of this morning’s special Cabinet meeting at which It was decided to call Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin home from Washington for urgent consultations.

Mrs. Meir made her remarks prior to Mr. Rogers’ press conference In Washington this morning. She said relations between Israel and the U.S. “ought to be regarded as friendly despite recurrent differences on basic and vital issues…you must not forget the United States has great economic potential which we need more than she needs us.” She Insisted however that Israel would accept “nothing less than peace.” “After what we have suffered, no one has the right to tell us to give up peace. After the experience of 1956 we shall know how to withstand pressure,” she said. The reference was to Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula and Gaza Strip under U.S. and Soviet pressure following the 1956 Suez campaign. It was understood here that details of the Rogers’ plan were conveyed to the Israeli government last weekend and discussed at Sunday’s regular cabinet session as well as at today’s. The plan was believed to have been given to Ambassador Habin at a meeting with Secretary Rogers in Washington last Friday.