Premier Golda Meir declared here last night that Israel alone would determine its own fate and warned against the expression of doubts and “unjustified guilt feelings” that she said would only encourage Israel’s enemies bent on its destruction. Mrs. Meir addressed 3000 women attending the 11th national convention of the Moetzet Hapoalot (Working Women’s Council) which represents nearly 600,000 women members of Histadrut.
Referring to the latest political developments, she said that the current diplomacy of U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger should be neither underestimated nor overrated. Kissinger’s talks will not be the decisive factor, she said. “What will decide is our determination to live in this country free from the threat of annihilation.” She said she feared that if the Arabs gained the impression that Israel has lost its convictions and will, “there will be no limit to what they will demand of us.”
In that connection she voiced regret “that there are some young people in Israel today who cast a doubt on Israel’s right to exist. We must beware.” she said, “of endangering our very existence or of illusions that will lead to threats against our existence.” She called on the delegates and Israeli women in general “to explain and free the nation of unjustified guilt feelings. No army can do that better than you, the mothers and teachers, can,” Mrs. Meir said.
SPLIT ON TERRITORIAL ISSUES
The Moetzet Hapoalot convention had some stormy moments when it came to drafting resolutions on the political situation. Even Labor Alignment delegates were split on territorial issues. MK Shoshana Arbeli-Almoslino wanted the convention to endorse Premier Meir’s statement that the Golan Heights are an integral part of Israel. But another Alignment MK, Chaika Grossman of Mapam, demanded a resolution against “the other Zionism which regards every line established as the result of victory over aggression as an historic line from which there can be no withdrawal.”
The convention unanimously adopted a resolution of solidarity with Mrs. Beate Klarsfeld, whose personal efforts to track down wanted Nazi war criminals has landed her in a Bavarian jail. The working women’s movement decided to send a delegation to the West German Ambassador demanding the immediate release of Mrs. Klarsfeld. Other resolutions will be adopted at the final session tonight.
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.
