Mission to Bucharest

Never before had an Israeli Premier been able to worship with fellow Jews in a Communist country. Last week, during an official visit to Rumania, Premier Golda Meir took time out to attend a synagogue service with 1,500 of Bucharest's 50,000 Jews. "We have problems in Israel," she told them in Yiddish, "but it is better to have problems in your own land than to be without a land of your own." After the 2 1/2-hr. service, Mrs. Meir broke away momentarily from her Rumanian bodyguard outside the synagogue to exchange Sabbath greetings with some of the thousands of Jews who had gathered behind police lines to catch a glimpse of her.

It was also the first time that an Israeli Premier had ventured into the East bloc for official meetings with Communist leaders. Mrs. Meir, who celebrated her 74th birthday last week, had begun the trip in an exuberant mood, fending off newsmen's questions about the prospects for her visit with a Jewish proverb: "The power of prophecy is given to children and fools." Under leaden Bucharest skies, she reviewed a goose-stepping honor guard. Rumanian girls in peasant costume presented her with flowers and then lustily kissed her startled coterie of three male aides.

The Rumanians, however, were obviously intent on keeping the visit on a low key. Mrs. Meir was greeted by Premier Ion Gheorghe Maurer instead of President Nicolae Ceausescu, and quickly driven off in a Mercedes limousine for an afternoon of preliminary discussions. At a state banquet given by Maurer, she openly pressed her hosts to arrange face-to-face talks between Israel and Egypt--a request that was pointedly ignored by the Rumanian press next day. At a return banquet that she gave for the Rumanians, Mrs. Meir served up fresh strawberries and avocados flown in for the occasion. They were tasty examples of Israel's flourishing fruit and vegetable exports and a subtle bid to increase her country's trade with Rumania, which now runs at a yearly rate of nearly $40 million, mostly in Rumanian meat, lumber and chemicals exchanged for Israeli potash, citrus fruits and textiles.

When they invited her to Bucharest, Rumanian diplomats had explained that President Ceausescu had had a promising conversation with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a recent visit to Cairo--and wanted to share his thoughts with Mrs. Meir. But after Ceausescu and Mrs. Meir talked twice for a total of nine hours, aides strove to convey the impression that there was less to the meetings than met the eye. The conversation was said to be largely exploratory, as Mrs. Meir pressed for direct talks with Egypt and Ceausescu avoided any role as mediator. Still, there was always the chance that they might just be keeping more substantial discussions secret.

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