Premier Golda Meir accused the United States today of encouraging the Arabs toward war rather than a settlement by withholding arms from Israel and yielding to Egyptian terms for an interim Suez agreement. Mrs. Meir made her accusations in a political statement to the Knesset at the opening of its fall session. She warned that no amount of pressure would force Israel to make political concessions that might endanger its security.
The Premier said that since last March “worrisome changes” have occurred in the US attitude toward an interim settlement. She said that when Secretary of State William P. Rogers recently advanced the view that some compromise could be reached with regard to Egyptian troop crossings of the Suez Canal, he was in effect accepting the Egyptian principle that its forces must be allowed to occupy areas evacuated by Israeli forces under an interim agreement.
Mrs. Meir said Israel objected vigorously to this. She said the whole idea of an interim settlement was to separate the opposing forces, not to bring them together on the eastern side of the canal. She said that in all previous contacts with the US State Department Israel has stressed that the US must not advance proposals of its own lest it impair its role of mediator between the two sides. Any divergence from this will create a deadlock and adversely affect the prospects of negotiations.
Mrs. Meir said the cessation of supply of aircraft from the US was particularly serious in view of the increasing supply of Soviet arms to the Arabs. She said the Russians have sent Egypt 120 aircraft since the cease-fire began in Aug. 1970 and that the total number of warplanes in Egypt’s possession is now 500. Without doubt, Mrs. Meir declared, this has upset the arms balance in the region and has undoubtedly encouraged the Arabs in their preparations to violate the cease-fired.
She added that Israel rejects the view which makes arms supplies dependent on any other issue, directly or indirectly. Political concessions will not be obtained from Israel by withholding vital supplies, she declared. She warned that an Egyptian attack would result in another Egyptian defeat. But Mrs. Meir said, Israel wants either unconditional negotiations or at least an interim settlement, not another round of fighting. During the Knesset debate that followed, the chairman of the defense and foreign affairs committee, Haim Zadek warned that Israel will not attend the negotiating table under pressure for concessions.
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