Israel, World Pay Respects
to An Institution: Golda Meir
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Golda Meir's last wish was that no eulogies be said at her funeral. Indeed,
no eulogies were said on a cold and rainy Tuesday in Jerusalem, but the sight of the tens of thousands
who came to pay their last respects to Golda said more than a thousand words. Seeking shelter from the
rain under their umbrellas, friends came from all over the world to share the grief of the family and bid
farewell to Golda. It was a quiet and dignified demonstration of admiration for the woman who was a
part of Israel's political scene for so many years.
Only early Tuesday morning did the long line of people coming to pay their respects at Golda's coffin
in front of the Knesset building come to an end. Some 100,000 Israelis lined up in a queue that stretched
to the Israel Museum, about half-a-mile away from the Knesset.
Tuesday morning, the Knesset guards who stood by the casket were replaced by an army honor
guard. The chief army chaplain said the prayer for the dead, and Golda's son, Menahem, said Kadish.
Actress Orna Porat read a passage of Golda's book, "My Life," and a part of Golda's speech in 1970, at the
ight of the War of Attrition, pledging Israel's devotion to the cause of peace.
As the Hebrew text was read, the many overseas guests stood patiently in front of the
.nesset entrance, including U.S. President Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian, Secretary of State
Cyrus Vance, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former British Premier Harold
Wilson, and other guests from many countries. The American delegation included Irwin Field,
the United Jewish Appeal general chairman; Sen. Abraham Ribicoff; and Michigan Senator-
elect Carl Levin.
Six colonels carried the coffin, escorted by another group of six army generals. The coffin was placed
on an army command car, and 300 of those present continued to the National Cemetery on Mt. Herzl.
As the funeral motorcade proceeded up Herzl Blvd. toward the cemetery, the rain became stronger,
and the large crowds expected earlier along the funeral routes did not appear. But groups of spectators
lined the route. Three jeeps carrying the national flag and the flags of the IDF and the Israel police led
the procession. They were followed by the coffin command car itself and by a number of limousines.
President Yitzhak Navon, his wife, and Mrs. Lillian Carter were in the first car — followed by the cars of
Premier Menahem Begin, Knesset Speaker Yitzhak Shamir, Chief Justice Yoel Sussman and the chief
rabbis. Then came several buses carrying those invited to take part in the burial ceremony.
At the cemetery, there was a brief ceremony of a prayer and Kadish said by the son. As customary
(Continued on Page 5)
EDITORIAL
Golda and Her Legacies
A giant has disappeared from the world scene. Golda Meir was not
Jewry's alone to be admired and respected. She belonged to the world. This
was in evidence since her passing last Friday and the final rites in tribute
to her memory on Tuesday.
All mankind was represented at the final service commemorating the
distinctions of her great career.
It fell to her lot, in her lifetime, to play an historic role in the task of
enrolling the cooperation of hostile neighbors in the quest for peace for her
nation and for the entire Middle East. She did not succeed when she
negotiated with King Abdullah of Jordan back in 1949. She triumphed in
the final year of her life, with the tributes to her last November by
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and in a eulogy on her passing by the
Egyptian leader who called her a valiant, honest foe. She lived up to that
description in her lifetime: the great leader, the inspirer of her followers in
the Socialist Zionist ranks, the dynamic head of her government when she
was Prime Minister of Israel.
As ambassador of Israel to the Soviet Union, Golda Meir brought into
Jewish and Zionist ranks the masses of Russian Jewry who gained new
dignity from the knowledge that Jewish statehood was a reality and that
the envoy of the redeemed Jewish state was in their midst. It was thanks to
Golda Meir that a new era commenced for Jews everywhere, Russian
Jewry among them.
All the free nations of the world were represented in the tributes to
Golda Meir since her passing and it is understandable why among all
who gloried in acknowledging her was the American delegation paying
honor to the Great Lady. It was tribute earned by the courage that made
her great in the defensive as well as the creative tasks for her nation.
Through the years, she gave comfort to the oppressed and leadership
to the builders of Zion. She defines an era and wrote an inerasable chapter
of Jewish history. Her memory thus becomes a blessing for all genera-
tions.
THE JEWISH NEWS 1
of Jewish Events
VOL. LXXIV, No. 15 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833 Dec. 15, 1978
End of Vance Trip Dims
Hope for Sunday Treaty
Memorial Service
for Golda Meir
3 p.m. Sunday at Shaarey Zedek
(See Story, Page 5)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance will return to Washington
today from Cairo. If there is no change in the plan, there will be no shuttle diplomacy by Vance
between Egypt and Israel and no signing of a peace treaty on Sunday. State Department
spokesman George Sherman said that Vance had done his utmost in trying to bridge the gap
between the two parties, "and it was now time for him to return home to attend to other
business." Sherman added that Vance spoke for 15 minutes to President Jimmy Carter on the
phone following his Jerusalem talks on Wednesday.
The report of Vance's early return to Washington came amid growing speculation in
Israel that there was no immediate breakthrough in the talks, and that chances for an early
conclusion of the peace treaty were dim.
_ Vance's trip to Israel Wednesday brought the sober realization that the U.S. was seri-
ously determined to try and meet the Sunday deadline set by the Camp David accords for the
conclusion of a peace treaty.
At the same time there were expressions of a rueful suspicion voiced in some
quarters at the atmosphere of intense and optimistic expectancy that had been
generated — apparently deliberately — by Vance and his party in their markedly
upbeat statements from Cairo. The suspicion was that these statements ("We have
finished with these two issues" — linkage and Article Six — "We have made good
progress") were designed to focus expectations on Israel as a means of psychological
pressure. Vance met with Prime Minister Menahem Begin, Foreign Minister Moshe
Dayan and Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and with the seven-member Ministerial
Defense Committee on Wednesday.
(Continued on Page 13)
dlulti Dimensions of UJA Emerging
Begin Accepts Nobel Prize
By Jewish News Special Correspondents
NEW YORK — A new multi-dimensional image emerged here last week as 2,000 United Jewish
Appeal volunteer leaders and workers gathered at the N.Y. Hilton Hotel to celebrate the 40th anniver-
sary of the UJA and to inaugurate the 1979 campaign in commencement of the movement's 41st year of
philanthropic and reconstruction actions.
New formulas were in evidence. Lay and professional leaders and the many hundreds of volunteers
participated in evaluative sessions aimed at establishing knowledgeability in pursuit of means to make
the UJA tasks strengthen Jewish life in the Diaspora, while assuring the support needed to guarantee
Israel's security.
The links between Diaspora Jewries became vital factors in studying the facets so urgent
for success in the major movement for reconstruction, emigration and immigrant absorption
and economic stability for the hundreds of thousands aided with UJA funds. The process of
reconstruction of Jewish life in the course of many crises now being experienced in many parts
of the world is vital.
(Continued on Page 18)
OSLO (JTA) — The 1978 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Sunday to
Israeli Premier Menahem Begin and to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat,
who was represented at the ceremony by former Parliament Speaker Said
Marai. Both men, Begin in his address, and Sadat in his message read out
by Marai, pledged themselves in the Israeli premier's words, to: "No more
war, no more blood and no more enmity." -
Both men also paid tribute to President Carter for his role in the
current peace process and for his "energy and devotion to peace." The
Nobel Peace committee also mentioned at length in its citation the role
played by the American President during the negotiations.
Throughout his nine-page address, the Egyptian President did not
refer once by name either to Begin or to the state of Israel. He reiterated,
however, the known Egyptian demands that peace should be comprehen-
sive, just and indivisible.
(Continued on Page 6)