Deputy Premier Yigal Allon tried for two and a half hours last night to woo a group of high school seniors who have criticized the government’s approach to peace with the Arabs. The youngsters told newsmen afterwards that Mr. Allon had given them “food for thought” but denied that they had retracted their criticism. The 37 students who met with the Deputy Premier who is also Minister of Education were part of a group of 70 who sent a letter to Premier Golda Meir last month protesting her government’s refusal let Dr. Nahum Goldmann go to Cairo to meet with President Nasser. Spokesmen for the group were Shmuel Shemtov, son of a Mapam cabinet minister and Eran Patinkin, son of Israeli economist Don Patinkin. They said, in reply to questions, that they would have written the letter to Mrs. Meir again though they might have phrased it differently. They denied they had threatened to refuse military service in whatever duties they were assigned. According to the Education Ministry, publication of the letter to Mrs. Meir was followed by a flood of letters from other high school students disassociating themselves from the views expressed by the dissenters.
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