My visit to Israel
The world is indeed a small place, Mrs. Thatcher said, talking to me about her recent eight-day visit to Israel under the sponsorship of the Anglo-Israel Friendship League of Finchley.
Who would imagine that she would meet up with members of a Finchley family in the new development town of Ashdod?
A Finchley Councillor was among those she met who were not strangers to her, and—perhaps to be expected—she met learned men from Oxford, the university of which she is a graduate, taking her MA and BSc degrees at Somerville College.
Mrs. Thatcher told me how very deeply impressed she had been by visits to the holy sites where Jesus was born, where he grew up, and where he preached.
It was wonderful, she said, to be able to relive the Bible stories, and one felt that she counted the experiences as one of the richest in her life, and something she will be able to pass on to Carol and Mark, her children.
Fantastic task
The world Jewry task of re-creating Israel is fantastic in effort, and fantastic too in the results of that effort, says Mrs. Thatcher.
Apart from the “human” and perhaps one might say the “womanly” side, one can imagine the impact of Mrs. Thatcher's very efficient and well-informed political personality on the people she met.
She is known for keeping promises, however tight her schedule, and a glance at her Israeli programme, with just here and there marked “leisure” , shows how untiring and conscientious a Member of Parliament we have.
Mrs. Thatcher arrived at Lod airport on June 9; from there she went to Jerusalem, staying at the King David Hotel.
On her arrival, and on June 10, she met ministers of the Knesset (Israel Parliament), visited Yad Va'Shem (Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority), and toured Jerusalem.
Holy Sites
Leaving for Tel Aviv on June 11, she visited the holy sites in Nazareth, and also Kibbutz Ginossar (collective village).
This day, too, Mrs. Thatcher will remember … standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, thinking perhaps, as a recent visitor to Israel expressed it in the Press last Sunday:
“I stood a little while ago with a group of pilgrims on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Looking out over that calm expanse of water, and knowing something of its history, everyone fell into silent contemplation.
“The very name ‘Galilee’ is built into the fabric of one's upbringing and education, and even in this secular age, the events that happened round that shore nineteen hundred years ago are recognised as formative in the human story.”
Antiquities
Staying overnight at the Galei Kinneret Hotel, Tiberias, Saturday June 12 saw Mrs. Thatcher on the way to Acre, the visit including observation on the open canal of the National Water Carrier.
On to Haifa, then Caesarea, to see the antiquities and the ancient port. Back again to Tel Aviv, where Mrs. Thatcher stayed at the Sheraton Hotel, and then on Sunday she flew to Eliat, making a tour and staying at the Eliat Queen of Sheba Hotel.
Monday saw a full day with visits to Rehovat, to the Weizmann Institute of Science, to Ashdod (development town), Nitsanim Youth Village, Ashkelon, Kibbutz Tamei Jaffe, and on to Beer-Sheva, staying at the Desert Inn.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Thatcher toured Beer-Sheva, going on to Sdom via Arad. On Wednesday she met ministers and visited the Afro-Asian Institute for Labour-Studies and Co-operation.
She had luncheon at the invitation of the British Ambassador and Mrs. John Beith at their residence.
In the evening Mrs. Thatcher was guest of honour at a dinner given by the Israel British Commonwealth Association at the Samuel Hotel, Tel Aviv, followed by a lecture given under the joint auspices of the Israel British Commonwealth Association and the Israel Office of the British Zionist Association.
Mrs. Thatcher flew home from Lod airport on June 17 ending a visit which has done much to cement the bonds of the Anglo-Israel Friendship League.