Mrs. Meir Sees War Not Imminent, Rejects 4 Power Solution to Middle East Conflict

Prime Minister Golda Meir said at a press conference yesterday that a renewed outbreak of war between Israel and the Arab states was not imminent and was impossible at this time because the Arabs were not prepared.

Mrs. Meir, meeting newsmen for the first time since assuming the Premiership on Monday, emphatically rejected a Four Power solution to the Middle East conflict or the stationing of a new United Nations peace-keeping force in the region. She said a UN force had failed twice before to prevent war and there was no reason to believe it would succeed a third time.

Mrs. Meir said the talk of renewed warfare by the Arabs was an attempt to pressure the Big Powers into taking action “so that the Arabs can sit back and let others solve their problems.” The only road to peace, she insisted, was for the Arabs to sit down with Israel to discuss it. “This is not outlandish, it is the accepted way to end wars and no one else, no matter how good his intentions, can do the job for the Arabs and Israelis.” she said.

Mrs. Meir implied that some disagreement had developed with the Nixon Administration over Israel’s positions. “There is no doubt that President Nixon has the best of intentions regarding Israel,” she said. She noted that his meeting with Foreign Minister Abba Eban last Friday was Israel’s first contact on this level with the new Administration. “Therefore, it is too soon to expect that complete agreement could be reached on all matters, and the dialogue goes on.” She said she had no plans at present to visit the U.S.

Mrs. Meir saw little likelihood that Washington and Moscow would come to an agreement on Middle East policy. She conceded that she did not relish such a prospect, however remote. She said Israel had “valid doubts” about the intentions of the Soviet Union and France in the Middle East.

The Prime Minister said the cabinet had not yet discussed the future of the occupied territories and such issue as the economic integration of the West Bank with Israel because, in the absence of peace talks with the Arabs, such discussions were academic. She said the cabinet had not set a time limit on the issue and would take up the problem in the future. She said, “There comes a time when a little people, whose very life depends on certain decisions it has to take, takes them because there is no alternative.” She said when the time comes that a discussion of territorial questions is realistic –“when there is an Arab partner to discuss them with” — the cabinet will reach a decision–“and it will be quite able to do so.”

Mrs. Meir said that Israel’s “bitter experience makes it absolutely essential that in signing a peace settlement, we must see to it that our borders are such that if at any time the Arabs want to attack they will not be able to do it from a point of natural superiority.” The Golan Heights and Sharm el- Shiekh, which commands the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, “cannot be left to the Arabs or to a UN force,” she said. Asked what, in Israel’s opinion, was not negotiable, the Prime Minister replied, “Israel does not want to be thrown into the sea nor would it accept Nasser’s plan, outlined to a newspaper some time ago, the final consequence of which was, in Nasser’s words, ‘in a very short time there will be no Jewish State.'” Mrs. Meir said that Israel would never accept El Fatah as a party to peace talks because “they are terrorists bent on murder.”

Asked how long she planned to continue in office, Mrs. Meir said she had not given the matter much thought because of the pressure of other problems. She added that she had never described herself as a “stop-gap” Premier. She said that when she had retired from the Foreign Ministry three years ago, she had hoped to be free to do things that she did not consider a duty. She said she thought there were others in Israel who would make good Prime Ministers.

Mrs. Meir said on a television interview last night that the vast majority of Israeli Arabs were loyal to the State and should not be bracketed with the few who participated in terrorist acts.