Premier Golda Meir will go to the United States. March 1 for discussions with President Nixon and other American officials, the Government announced today. The announcement was made simultaneously here and in Washington and was released to the press here at the end of today’s Cabinet meeting. Mrs. Mier met previously with Nixon in Washington in Dec. 1971 and Sept. 1970.
Another Nixon-Meir meeting had been expected since Nixon’s re-election last Nov., but today’s announcement caught the public by surprise. The announcement said that Mrs. Meir would meet with U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers and other officials and would also address a national Israel Bonds conference in Miami and a major United Jewish Appeal event in New York.
Her meeting with the President will take place before the expected visits to Washington of King Hussein of Jordan and Leonid Brezhnev, Secretary General of the Soviet Communist Party. It will follow recent visits to Washington by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Deputy Premier Yigal Allon both of whom met with Rogers and other top officials but did not see the President.
HEAD OFF POSSIBLE U.S. PRESSURE
Sources here said that Mrs. Meir’s visit may be intended to head off possible American pressure on Israel for concessions to get Middle East peace talks moving. The U.S. is expected to launch another Middle East peace initiative during the current year.
According to today’s announcement, Mrs. Meir will be accompanied to Washington by her political adviser, Simha Dinitz who is Israel’s Ambassador-designate to the U.S. but will be travelling in his capacity as Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office. The present Ambassador, Yitzhak Rabin, who was to end his American tour of duty this month has been asked to remain in Washington until March so that he can be on hand for the Premier’s visit.
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.
