Premier Menachem Begin said yesterday that the trilateral summit talks at Camp David “should not be described as a fateful meeting. The fate of our nation will not be decided either at King David or at Camp David.” (The King David Hotel in Jerusalem was the site of talks between officials of the former Rabin government and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.)
Begin, in offering this assessment to the graduating class of the recently reopened National Defense College, warned against the threats “of swords or oil. Israel will not bow to threats of this sort. We shall not be influenced by any threats. We ask not to be threatened.” He asserted that Israel is going to Camp David with the fullest good will for the summit talks’ success. He said Israel is prepared to discuss the problems that will face it at the summit but will discuss them coolly and quietly.
NOT SEEKING ANOTHER INTERIM ACCORD
Focusing on those talks, Begin said Israel will advance the view that there is a distinction, not a contradiction, between a peace treaty and peace relations with Egypt. If a peace treaty is not possible because Egypt is not in a position to sign one at this time, Begin said Israel would seek a peace relation that would lead, in time, to a peace treaty.
Israel, he said, is not seeking another interim agreement but a permanent agreement. “We want no more war, no more bloodshed, no more aggression, but peace relations between Israel and its neighbors.” He did not, however, discount the possibility of “arrangements” in certain areas but stressed this would have to be “on a mutual basis.”
Begin also told the graduating class of 26 senior army officers that it is the task of the army to prepare for war and the task of the political leadership is to prevent war. “This is the correct distribution of functions between the military and political leaderships,” he said. “But these functions are interlocked. The stronger the military, the more disciplined and swift in its movements, the easier it will be for the political leadership to prevent the outbreak of war.”
The National Defense College, the highest military educational institute, produced four classes of senior officers prior to the Six-Day War. It has been closed since then and was reopened again last year. The college is a continuation of the field university that the Israeli army conducts for its senior officers.
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