Mrs. Meir Wins Overwhelming Vote of Confidence on Her Peace Settlement Plan

Premier Golda Meir won an overwhelming vote of confidence from her Cabinet colleagues today over an interview published in the Times of London yesterday in which she stated more specifically than ever before in public what Arab territories Israel intends to keep and what it was prepared to return in exchange for a peace settlement. Even the National Religious Party ministers who were initially critical of Mrs. Meir’s assertion that Israel was prepared to give up most of the West Bank, retreated. They said they were only expressing “surprise” that the Premier had not seen fit to acquaint the Cabinet with the interview before its publication. Anticipating “questions” at today’s Cabinet session, Mrs. Meir distributed mimeographed transcripts of the interview she gave Times correspondent Louis Heren. In it she was adamant on Israel’s permanent retention of East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the Sharm el-Sheikh strongpoint. She stressed that Israel must maintain a continued presence on the West Bank so that Arab forces can never again come within artillery range of Lydda Airport and Tel Aviv. But she stated specifically that Israel did not want to keep the Samaria and Judaea regions because it does not want to absorb its 600,000 Arab inhabitants.

Most effusive in praising Mrs. Meir today were Deputy Premier Yigal Allon, Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir, and Minister-Without-Portfolio Israel Galili, all of them members of her “inner circle.” She also received congratulations from Tourist Minister Moshe Kol, Health Minister Victor Shemtov, and Absorption Minister Nathan Peled. Other ministers either offered congratulations or refrained from comment. The three NRP ministers were in an awkward position. They are more moderate than their party rank-and-file which demands Israel’s permanent retention of the entire West Bank for religious reasons. The NRP executive at an emergency meeting today decided to ask Mrs. Meir for further clarification. They said the elucidations received so far were unsatisfactory. More serious political trouble loomed from the opposition camp where the Gahal Knesset faction filed a motion of no-confidence in the government over the statements made by Mrs. Meir in the Times interview. Gahal, comprised of the militant nationalist Herut faction and the Liberal Party, insists that Israel make no territorial concessions. Their motion is expected to be debated in the Knesset on Tuesday. (Mrs. Meir’s remarks brought a swift reaction from Egypt, though not form Cairo, Dr. Ashraf Ghorbal, Egypt’s top official in Washington said they “explain Israel’s intention of expansion. They explain that it is not peace she was after, not freedom of navigation, but simply territory. She is creating a new map for Israel and she is asking us to negotiate our territory to create that map,” he said.)

Joseph Sapir, leader of the Gahal Liberal faction called Mrs. Meir’s remarks a “grave matter.” He accused her of doing what she had explicitly promised not to do until peace negotiations were at a more advanced stage–draw a map.” Mrs. Meir’s aides claimed she had drawn no maps in the strictest sense of the word but had merely outlined one of several alternative plans that could serve as a basis for negotiations. They insisted that she said nothing that has not been stated by government officials before. Her remarks were viewed as a combination of plans advanced by Deputy Premier Allon and the “oral plank” offered by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan in the Labor Party platform before the last elections. But most observers acknowledged that Mrs. Meir introduced a new concept when she proposed a mixed force to guarantee the demilitarization of the Sinai peninsula in which Israeli troops would participate and Egyptians could also be included. The participation of Israeli and Egyptian troops in a mixed peace-keeping force has never been suggested publicly before. Foreign Minister Abba Eban who will fly to Washington early this week for meetings with UN mediator Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring and Secretary of State William P. Rogers, told the Cabinet today that Israel was still awaiting Egypt’s reply to its latest note. He reviewed the political situation.