Premier Golda Meir of Israel contended in a taped television interview today that Israel’s permanent retention of the Sharm el-Sheikh strongpoint in southern Sinai was vital to peace in the Middle East. Sharm el-Sheikh commands the Straits of Tiran which give Israel’s port of Eilat access to the sea. It was occupied by Israeli forces during the June, 1967 Six-Day War. Mrs. Meir made her remark when asked by interviewer Peter Snow whether she endorsed Defense Minister Moshe Dayan’s recent statement that he would prefer to keep Sharm el-Sheikh without peace than to have peace without Sharm el-Sheikh. She said, “Peace in the Middle East and Sharm el-Sheikh are in exorably bound up. We do not want to have a repetition of what happened last time (the Egyptian blockade). Without Sharm el-Sheikh guarding the approaches to our southern ports, peace would be meaningless.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
