Defense Minister Moshe Dayan delivered a blistering attack on the doves and singled out Foreign Minister Abba Eban for particularly scathing treatment. Speaking at the closing session of the Labor Party secretariate which had been debating the future of the administered territories. Dayan said he was not shocked by the concept of “creeping annexation” applied in areas such as the environs of Jerusalem, Nebi Samwil, Kiryat Arba near Hebron, Gush Etzion and the Latrun salient, and the Kfar Saba region. He called for more intensive settlement of these areas both by government and private initiative and for more Israeli investments in the administered territories to create more employment and improve the inhabitants’ living standards.
During the debate. Premier Golda Meir castigated “some of our youth and academies” who question the moral foundations of Zionism. She said there was no comparison between the Jews, for whom Israel was the only chance of independence, freedom from persecution and the opportunity of self-expression, and the Palestinians. The Arabs had 18 states, she said, and the Palestinians had their future in Jordan where they already form 50 percent of the population.
On militarily secure borders. Dayan stressed the importance of Israel’s radar positions on the crests of the hills in the West Bank and Sinai “I say to Eban: do not forget the hill tops,” he said, noting that the air force was now the most vital part of Israel’s deterrent and the radar posts its eyes and ears.
However, he added, he would be willing to trade some military security for a real political settlement, but would not advocate Israel’s withdrawal from areas of Jewish settlement because these areas must be protected if Israelis are to live there and not just visit them as tourists In addition, Dayan, said it was Israel’s duty to help raise the living standards of the inhabitants by providing health, education and welfare services which it gave its own citizens. Israel must also create employment and industry on the West Bank and in Gaza, he said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
