Word: meire
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Vital Interests. Israel's official response was negative and then some. In the opening speech of a Knesset (Parliament) debate on the proposal, Premier Golda Meir was both skeptical and sarcastic. The King's message, she said, "is a pretentious and one-sided statement which not only does not serve the interests of peace but is liable to spur on the extremist elements [in the Arab world] whose aim is war against Israel." Predictably, Mrs. Meir was totally opposed to Hussein's suggestion that Israel surrender part of Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip to enlarge his nation...
...Meir's remarks in the Knesset sounded unusually harsh toward the most moderate Arab leader that Israel faces. Conceivably, the scornful tone had been deliberately tailored to spare Hussein from Arab antagonism; an immediate sign of Israeli enthusiasm would have meant the kiss of death for the King. If that was the case, her seemingly undiplomatic diplomacy was well-advised. Even before Hussein announced his plan, rumors abounded in the Middle East that Israel and Jordan had already mapped out a peace plan at a series of secret meetings. Reported details of the agreement included extraterritoriality for Moslem shrines...
...Premier Meir and King Hussein explicitly denied that any deal had been made or was contemplated. Still, as Jerusalem's Arab newspaper Al Quds commented, it was difficult to believe that Hussein would have proposed so far-reaching a plan "without some behind-the-scenes activities." In fact, high Jordanian and Israeli officials have held a series of secret meetings over the past few months. Hussein and Israel's Deputy Premier Yigal Allon had lengthy talks in Amman in November. Mrs. Meir and the King followed these witha private meeting at which they discussed the prerequisites for peace...
...creating an autonomous Palestinian region, returning Arab Jerusalem to Jordanian control, and establishing nahal (fortified) settlements on the West Bank are also contained in the 1967 peace plan proposed by and named after Allon. The Deputy Premier, who likes Hussein's proposals, is a certain candidate for Mrs. Meir's job if the 74-year-old grandmother chooses not to run again in Israel's autumn general election...
...David Ben-Gurion's closest counselor during the 1956 Suez-Sinai campaign, and following the war used his cordial relationship with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to help resolve U.S.-Israeli differences. Herzog was director-general of the Premier's office for Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir, service that earned him the sobriquet "the Henry Kissinger of Israel...