Mrs. Meir Said to Be Considering Plan to Settle Refugees on West Bank and Sinai

Premier Golda Meir is considering a plan to resettle some refugees from the Gaza Strip in the West Bank and Sinai Peninsula, Israeli newspapers reported today. They said Mrs. Meir brought up the plan at yesterday’s meeting of the Knesset’s Labor Party faction and has reportedly called for consultations in her office to set up pilot projects in those areas that would include agricultural and industrial ventures. According to the reports, the purpose of resettlement would be to show the world that it can be done despite Arab claims to the contrary and to seek to prove that the Arab states have been exploiting the refugees for political purposes.

Meanwhile, security precautions are being taken here to prevent civic unrest in the occupied territories tomorrow, the second anniversary of the beginning of the Six-Day War. Shopkeepers in East Jerusalem, asked if there is a strike planned, said they did not yet know.

In another development, the American-Arabian Oil Co. (Aramco) has not yet approached Israel with the request that its workmen be permitted to repair the Trans-Arabian pipeline in the Golan Heights blown up last weekend by Arab saboteurs. Mrs. Meir said yesterday that before the flow of oil could continue, Israel would have to be assured that there will be no repetition of the sabotage. The decision followed the terrorist attack on the 30-inch pipeline, owned by Tapline, an Aramco subsidiary, which lost 8,000 tons of oil.

Mrs. Meir said that the explosion and oil flow did little damage to Israel’s nationwide water system. Only a small part of the oil that escaped reached the Jordan River. The pollution of the Sea of Galilee had no effect on the fish industry and no signs of contamination showed up in the water pumped to citrus groves and farms further south.