Mrs. Meir Says UN Vote Was Motivated by Reality of Oil

Former Premier Golda Meir said last night that the United Nations will soon have the “honor” of being addressed by “the murderers of women and children.” Her hitter statement was aimed at the General Assembly’s 105-4 vote late yesterday to invite the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in its deliberations on the Palestine Question. Mrs. Meir addressed the 200-member United Jewish Appeal Study Mission currently in Israel, headed by UJA general chairman Paul Zuckerman.

Referring to PLO leader and El Fatah chieftain Yasir Arafat who will head the PLO delegation to the UN, Mrs. Meir said “I hope he will tell the honored delegates how his people killed children, women and men at Maalot, Kiryat Shemona and Nahariya. I hope he will tell them this story in detail. I am sure he will wash his hands clean of the blood he has shed over the years. But there is no cleanser that can clean his hands.”

Mrs. Meir echoed the anger and bitterness that prevails in Israel today over the General Assembly’s action, although the outcome of the vote was not unexpected. The former Premier, who had her own sharp differences with the world organization during her tenure in office, told the UJA delegates that the heavy vote in favor of the PLO did not mean that most of the people at the UN did not care about human life. They were motivated. by the practical reality of oil, she said. “Being practical people, they decided that life must go on, and if life is to go on there is a need for oil–despite the lives of murdered children and women,” Mrs. Meir said.

URGES TOTAL INVOLVEMENT WITH ISRAEL

While trying to project her familiar optimistic outlook, the former Israeli leader could not conceal her tragic view of the past year’s events and in that context laid special stress on the unity of world Jewry with Israel. “No one who is sincere and honest and has the courage to face facts can promise that this was the last war. We have heard the voices of our neighbors and they have not been singing a song of peace,” she said.

Mrs. Meir warned that a weak Israel, economically dependent on others, automatically affects the political and security situation in the Mideast. She urged that the generation that saw the establishment of Israel must not witness its demise. She added that Israel will have to reach decisions essential for its security, even if they are painful to some people. “Can we depend on UN guarantees after the UN decision of tonight?” she asked.

Zuckerman pledged “the moral, financial and political support of six million American Jews” to Israel. “The people of Israel can only build tomorrow with cash that is available today.”