1.
GV Knesset Building (2 shots)
0.18

2.
CU Golda Meir
0.19

3.
MV Golda Meir interviewed.
1.42


TRANSCRIPT:



QUESTIONER: "Could I deal with the other possibilities. If King Hussein does go, or is assassinated, there would be several possibilities. You might have a Palestinian guerrilla government set up across the river. Could you tolerate that?"



MEIR: "Look, we are prepared to negotiate with any legitimate government, providing they are responsible for the government, for the country in which they are, and providing they are prepared to live with us in peace. We don't elect the governments of any other countries. So....



QUESTIONER: "But if this were a Palestinian state, which you know is hostile to you, would it be an advantage to you to have a real authority, so that you know your enemy is there, and you can negotiate directly with him?"



MEIR: "If they're an enemy, and they want to negotiate with us, as far as we are concerned, whether they like us or not, they are not enemies, or not if they want to make peace with us. So we've always said that Jordan is the real solution for the Palestinians. Jordan, if we should decide to return part of the Western Bank, we don't care if that is called Palestine, we have been saying that all the time."




Initials CM/AW/OS/3.26 CM/AW/OS/3.29



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In a recent interview recorded in Jerusalem, Israel's Prime Minister Mrs Golda Meir indicated her Government's willingness to deal with any new Jordanian Government which genuinely wants peace, even a Palestinian one.

Mrs. Meir also indicated that part of the Western Bank of the river Jordan might be given back to the Palestinians in some future settlement.

Mrs. Meir was interviewed by a British reporter at the Knesset Building in Jerusalem.