Word: meir
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With those emotional words-spoken to a meeting in Jerusalem of the leaders of Israel's ruling Labor Party -Premier Golda Meir, 75, abruptly ended almost a half-century career in politics. In bowing out "irrevocably" from the post she has held for five years and through two Middle East wars, Mrs. Meir threw Israel into its worst political crisis in years. Her resignation as the country's fourth Premier since independence* cast a shadow on the prospects for early disengagement negotiations with Syria and the likelihood of a peace settlement in the Middle East...
...Meir followed her announcement to the party with a formal resignation speech before the Knesset. The modernistic chamber was filled to capacity as she trudged to the podium. The mood of the meeting was even more grim than expected: that morning, Palestinian guerrillas had sneaked across Israel's border from Lebanon to carry out a massacre at Qiryat Shemona in which 18 people were killed (see following story). The raid, Mrs. Meir said, "surpasses in its barbarity all that has gone before." She followed up an account of the assault with an explanation of her decision to resign...
Although she has lived in Palestine and Israel for more than 53 years, Mrs. Meir still speaks Hebrew with a distinctive Middle American accent. She was born Goldie Mabovitch in Kiev-her earliest memories, she told Pope Paul at the Vatican, were of pogroms-and immigrated to the U.S. at eight with her family. In Milwaukee, her home for nearly 15 years, she became Goldie Myerson...
...moved to Palestine in 1921 to join the Zionist movement there. Eventually, David Ben-Gurion persuaded her to Hebraize her name to Meir, which means "illumination." She bore a son and a daughter to her husband Morris, a lukewarm Zionist from whom she was later separated (he has since died). Mrs. Meir preferred politics to housekeeping and joined the Histadrut, the Jewish Labor Federation. Her rise after that in the government and Labor Party was swift...
...week's end, Mrs. Meir had not made up her mind what to do about the report, but the matter will more than likely be put to the test when the Knesset meets for a scheduled debate this week. The Premier may try to persuade her party to accept the report as it stands and close ranks in view of the tense military situation on the Syrian border. One way out might be to shift Dayan from Defense to Foreign Minister, a move that would enable him to remain in the government and continue negotiations on Syrian disengagement...