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Page 28—Supplement to The Jewish News—March 16, 1973
Independent Israel
By MRS. GOLDA MEI R
Prime Minister of Israel
Twenty-five years are but a brief moment for a
nation with a memory more than 35 centuries long.
Yet for us this quarter of a century bears the quality
of a wonder: the third era of independence of the Jew-
ish people in the Land of Israel came 1,878 years after
the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by
the legions of imperial Rome, and only three years after
the end of the Holocaust, in which German Nazis and
their European collaborators murdered 6,000,000 Jews
—one-third of our nation.
During the 25 years of its independence, Israel has
been concerned with four main human efforts:
• First, to defend our independence and assure the
survival of our nation;
• Secondly, to make Israel the home for Jews from
all corners of the earth, whether in need of refuge or
in search of an independent Jewish identity;
• Thirdly, to develop as a human society, preserving
ancient Jewish values, yet responding to the needs
of a modern democracy;
• Fourthly, to develop our material resources and
give our people a better quality of life.
Defense and survival have been a major effort in
our life, because the Arab governments have so far
refused to accept our right to live as an independent
nation. Persistently they have sought to put an end to
the existence of independent Israel and to deprive us
of our right to live as we choose. Israel has known
only armistice lines—until 1967—and since then only
;cease-fire lines. We have never known frontiers of
peace, and even between wars the Arab governments
have intermittently directed terror and violence against
tour people. They have violated armistice agreements
:and cease-fire accords. They have conducted economic
:warfare against us. They have launched against Israel
:and the Jewish people virulent propaganda riddled with
:anti-Semitic venom.
To assure the survival of our nation, the Israel
Defense Forces have evolved as a people's army. It is
an army where our sons and daughters serve, often
:within sight of their homes; ours is an army for which
the supreme objective is not war but the prevention
of war. It is not an army bound for conquest; but an
army utterly zealous in the defense of our lives and
independence.
Peace with our neighbors, and not war, is the para-
mount quest of our people.
While seeking peace, Israel continues to foster in
the areas administered since 1967 the conditions which
we hope will be part of the peace settlement. These
are—the open frontiers between the population of Israel
and the Arab population of the areas; and the Open
Bridges policy which, in the summer of 1972 alone, en-
abled more than 150,000 Arabs from neighboring coun-
tries to visit Israel. Full conditions of peace will be
realized when we can reciprocate such visits—to Am-
man, to Beirut, to Cairo.
The solidarity between the Jewish people and Israel
has grown steadily over the past 25 years and in par-
ticular since the Six-Day War. The links are multiply-
ing in many fields, of which the most important one is
probably that of education.
Ae we move into the future, our basic aspirations
remain those which have followed us throughout the
past quarter of a century.
• Peace within secure boundaries is the principal
objective of Israel.
(Continued to Page 29)
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Center
Salutes
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25th
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