Ben-gurion Meets with Kennedy; Exchange Views Affecting Both Countries

Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion called on President John F. Kennedy at the latter’s presidential suite at the Waldorf Astoria here today, and the two statesmen conferred for an hour and a half.

Also attending the meeting were Avraham Harman, Israeli Ambassador to the United States; Meyer Feldman, a White House aide of the President; and Philip Talbot, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. After the conference, Mr. Ben-Gurion issued the following statement:

“I appreciated the opportunity of calling on President Kennedy and of renewing my acquaintance with him. I first had the privilege of meeting him when he visited Israel ten years ago, and I was glad to have been able to see him in Washington last year.

“We had a constructive review of problems affecting our two countries and we reviewed a number of world problems. As you know, relations between the United States and Israel have been cordial ever since we regained our independence 13 years ago, and I am looking forward to a continuation of fruitful cooperation in the future.”

Pierre Salinger, the White House press secretary, made the following statement: “The President and the Prime Minister met for an hour and a half and had a fruitful discussion of world problems. The President was happy to have this opportunity again to get the views of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion and renew his acquaintance with the Prime Minister. The President met the Prime Minister last year in Washington and previously in Israel in 1951.”

Before they started their talks, Mr. Ben-Gurion presented to President Kennedy a book printed in Latin in Antwerp in 1614 entitled “A Pilgrimage to Jerusalem,” by Count Nicholas Christopher Radzivili. Count Radzivili was an ancestor of the husband of Mrs. Kennedy’s sister. While the conference was on, about 50 persons who said they were Americans of Arab descent picketed near the hotel with anti-Israel banners.

Tomorrow, the Israel Prime Minister will address a joint meeting of the Jewish Agency executive and the American Zionist Council in the Jewish Agency building here. He will later meet in the same building with the members of the Presidents’ Conference. In the afternoon he will receive a delegation of top leaders of the American Jewish Committee. He will be the guest of honor at a diplomatic luncheon to be given tomorrow at the United Nations by Ambassador Michael Comay, head of the Israel delegation to the United Nations.