Israel’s desire for peace and her need for defensive arms were emphasized here today by Israel Foreign Minister Golda Meir at a crowded press conference.
Asked a direct question whether French Premier Charles de Gaulle or Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville had promised her arms, the Israeli Foreign Minister avoided a direct reply. Instead, she expressed Israel’s desire to maintain a balance of arms which had now been upset.
She pointed out that the Arabs had threatened to push Israel into the sea, a threat which Israel took seriously and which was lent ominous weight by Egypt’s possession of an underwater fleet which rendered unsafe the sea, Israel’s last un threatened frontier.
Mrs. Meir stressed that Israel will never draw back to her 1948 borders which, she underlined, had been invalidated in the Arab invasion of the Jewish State. Israel will not give up an inch of her territory, just as she had no intention of taking Arab territory, the Foreign Minister stressed.
Asked about overflights of British troop and supply planes, Mrs. Meir declared they had been allowed only when the situation was critical. She dismissed as “hypothetical” a question whether permission would be given under Western pressure. She was asked what Israel’s attitude would be toward the presence of Iraqi troops in Jordan. Her reply was that security was the Jewish State’s first concern and that the presence of Iraqi troops in neighboring Jordan would be dealt with if it occurred. At the same time, she emphasized the close ties between Israel and France.
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