Word: meire
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Never before in a quarter-century of bitter Middle East diplomatic negotiations has a U.S. Secretary of State been so handsomely treated by both sides. "You have made history this week," said a smiling Israeli Premier Golda Meir to Henry Kissinger. Five hours later and 600 miles away in Egypt, President Anwar Sadat embraced Kissinger, called him "Brother" and said warmly: "Let us hope that the road we paved is for a lasting peace...
...last week's negotiations was his dizzying, diplomatic milk run aboard Air Force Two, his blue and white 707 jet, between Jerusalem and the village of Aswan on the upper Nile, where Sadat was recovering from a bad case of bronchitis. Kissinger made three trips between Sadat and Meir in Jerusalem- who was also ailing, with a painful case of shingles-before he was able to reach an agreement. But by week's end, in a dramatic demonstration of his achievement, he had only to make one final flight between Jerusalem and Aswan to get the signatures...
...Israel, Stone wrote in 1956, "The Arab refugees weigh upon my conscience, and I believe it the moral duty of Jews everywhere to contribute when peace is made towards their resettlement." In 1970, still deploring Israel's failure to deal justly with the Palestinians, Stone wrote that Golda Meir's "coldness was unworthy of a Jewish leader. . . Leadership like hers, in forty years of siege and war, will purge the Jews of the compassion acquired in exile...
Israelis, meanwhile, were becoming increasingly agitated over cease-fire violations by Egypt and Syria; last week three more Israeli soldiers were killed and 15 wounded. Such losses make it more difficult for Premier Golda Meir, in the wake of a national election that returned her to power with a reduced plurality, to form a new government committed to continuing negotiations. The Tel Aviv newspaper Yediot Aharonot, echoing a widespread feeling, demanded: "Why can't we react immediately to the provocation? Do we have to obtain approval from Washington to protect ourselves against murder...
...Explained one American diplomat: "Neither side understands what the other is trying to do. Both might find it easier to have an outsider interpret for them." Arriving in Aswan, where Sadat was recuperating from bronchitis, Kissinger immediately arranged to shuttle by air between there and Jerusalem, where Premier Golda Meir's decisions were affected by, among other things, a case of shingles. Kissinger was hopeful about an accommodation on disengagement. "I wouldn't have come," he said, "if I didn't think there would be very good progress...