The Big Four will meet tomorrow as they have several dozen times during the last 10 months without coming any closer to a consensus on Middle East guidelines that would serve as a basis for the resumption of Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring’s Mideast peace mission, diplomatic sources said today. The intensified hostilities in the past few weeks since the Big Four last met and the possible consequences of the near civil war in Jordan these past several days has had no apparent effect on the deliberations of the four ambassadors nor has it contributed to a feeling of urgency that some consensus, even an interim.one, should be reached at this time., A spokesman for the British Mission said that Lord Caradon remains firmly convinced that Dr. Jarring “must be enabled to renew agreements. The only question at this time is precisely how. where and when.”
Diplomatic sources indicated that the inability of the Four Powers to reach an agreement together with the increased hostilities in the Middle East makes Dr. Jarring’s peace mission more imperative than ever. The question earlier, sources noted, was whether Dr. Jarring should resume his mission without guidelines from the Big Four or to wait for what could be interpreted as a mandate. Now, however, the British and French primarily among the Four Powers, feel that his peace mission – with or without guidelines – could lead to a decrease in the Mideast tensions. There was also a general agreement among diplomatic sources that Secretary of State William P. Rogers’ announcement Sunday that the United States will continue to seek new initiatives to end the conflict in the Middle East is welcomed. “The situation is too serious for initiatives not to be taken,” one diplomatic source said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
