Mrs. Meir: Israel’s Relations with U.S. Will Be Paramount in Next Few Weeks

Premier Golda Meir told a closed meeting of the Labor Alignment’s political committee last night that in the next few weeks the question of Israel’s relations with the United States would become paramount. Mrs. Meir was referring to the American position on future borders, embodied in the Rogers Plan which Israel has rejected. The plan called for an Israeli withdrawal to its pre-June, 1967 boundaries with only minor alterations of frontiers. The American position has been the main pre-occupation of Israel’s leadership since the U.S. strongly backed United Nations mediator Gunnar V. Jarring’s latest peace moves which Israel regards as conforming closely to the Rogers Plan. Mrs. Meir told the members of the Labor Party-Mapam alignment that Washington was well aware of Israel’s position and attitude towards various problems. “They know we do not accept the Rogers Plan,” she said, adding that the next few weeks would be crucial in her government’s relations with the U.S. With the exception of Mapam leader Meir Yaari, the committee members agreed unanimously that there was no need at this juncture for Israel to draw up maps. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned a week ago and reported at the time that an Israeli “senior security person” was in charge of a special team drawing up a map that would indicate what Israel regards as its minimum security frontiers. The report said the map would be on hand whenever the subject of boundaries should come up during the Jarring talks. (Time magazine claimed today that it had learned from “highly placed sources” that maps indicating proposed future borders are now being drawn up by Israel.) The committee members were briefed on reported plans for an international peace-keeping force at the Sharm el-Sheikh strong-point at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula. They were told that the Soviet Union favored a force there for five years after which the Security Council would decide whether the international presence should be extended for an additional period. The United States was reported to favor an international force with no time limit and its withdrawal subject to Security Council decision. Some of Mrs. Meir’s colleagues reportedly expressed the opinion that Egypt’s apparent willingness to make peace was a “tactical trick” but agreed that Israel could not afford to appear to be rigid and uncompromising.