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Mrs. Meir: Sadat’s Latest Threats Block Road to Peace Negotiations

April 28, 1972
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Premier Golda Meir said last night that there can be no peace negotiations if the other side refuses to negotiate. She referred to the latest speech by President Anwar Sadat of Egypt who vowed to liberate all of the occupied territories this year and reduce Israel and the Jews to a “humiliated, hunted people.”

No nation can bring about peace negotiations If Sadat is not prepared to sit at the table with us and discuss his proposals and ours, Premier Meir told high school students of the Hashomer Hatzair movement at Givat Haviva settlement. Replying to questions, she insisted that I Israel has no map of its future boundaries and won’t have until an Arab leader appears as a serious negotiating partner. Mrs. Meir defended Israeli activities in the administered territories and rejected the Idea of a separate Arab state on the West Bank. Such a state could not exist independently but only as a spearhead against us, Mrs. Meir said.

Referring to her visit to Rumania next month, she said she expected President Nicolae Ceausescu to relate to her what he was told by President Sadat on his recent visit to Cairo. “We have to listen and present our attitude,” she said observing that while Rumania was a Communist bloc state that had friendly ties to the Arab states, It was the only one that maintained formal diplomatic relations with Israel and also friendly relations.

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