Israel May Still Face Military Struggle, Golda Meir Tells Knesset

Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, warned the Israeli people today that a political and military struggle may still lie in front of them. Winding up a five-hour debate in Parliament on the Foreign Ministry’s budget, Mrs. Meir bluntly stated that the Israel Government would not agree to the stationing of United Nations troops at Nitzana–as demanded by Cairo–or on any other portion of Israel’s soil.

Premier Ben Gurion, who participated in the debate, told the Parliament last night that nothing has been endangered by Israel’s withdrawals from the Sinal peninsula. He refuted charges by Menachem Beigin, Herut leader, that the withdrawals were disastrous,

“A diplomatic victory was achieved that was never greater,” the Prime Minister declared, adding that even if Israel had not achieved everything, the Sinai campaign and the Israeli diplomatic offensive a afterwards had resulted in the breaking of Egyptian power in the Gaza Strip and in the Sinai Peninsula.

The withdrawals had averted the threat of isolation from powers from whom Israel may require “sinews of war” for a possible “third round,” the Premier told the Parliament. He said he would not be surprised if the Soviets offered more arms to the Arabs, and emphasized that any other action than withdrawal would have closed the door to acquisition of needed arms by Israel.

Not only was the stature of Egyptian President Nasser lowered in the United Nations and with his Arab neighbors, the Prime Minister said, but the opening of navigation in the Gulf of Akaba will make Elath a second Haifa and perhaps greater than Haifa.

Mr. Ben Gurion warmly supported the praise of Abba Eban expressed by Mrs. Golda Meir, Israeli Foreign Minister, during the debate. The Prime Minister added that a thousand Ebans could not accomplish in terms of public opinion what the Sinai operation did in exposing Egyptian aggression and fedayeen murders.