Former High Official Contends Israel Stalling on Negotiations Until 1972

A former high ranking State Department official who had served for many years in the Middle East. said yesterday at a background briefing for foreign newsmen sponsored by the United States Information Agency, that Israel’s strategy may be to delay the current negotiations and “wait it out until 1972” because they evidently feel they can do better with Democrats in power in the U.S. The speaker, who under the briefing agreement, can only be identified as a “former American official with substantial experience in Middle East affairs” declared that “a point of great contention” between the U.S. and Israel is Secretary of State Rogers’ proposal for “insubstantial changes” in Arab-Israel borders. He said that based on the past “the Israelis feel they can expect more from Democrats than from Republicans” and they may be prepared to wait out the negotiations in order to get away from the “insubstantial” border changes.

When reminded by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent that the passage of the $500 million line of credit to Israel last December was approved by the Senate by a bi-partisan vote of 87 to 7, with several Democratic leaders opposing the motion, the speaker replied “one should not draw the conclusion that the Democratic Party would take a position one way or another.” In what was evidently a “trial balloon” for the government, the former official suggested the possibility of arranging for Turkey and Iran to participate in the Jarring negotiations as nations more sensitive to the needs of the area than the Big Four. He also suggested the demilitarization of the Golan Heights, and the presence of United Nations forces in the areas of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Sinai with powers to resist invasion and under Security Council orders. He proposed that Israel control West Jerusalem, that a “Palestinian nation” be set up in the Gaza and West Bank areas with sovereignty over East Jerusalem, and that the Holy Places be placed under international control. Under this plan the residents of Israel and Palestine would be permitted to “intermingle” freely.

It would bring peace and stability to the area, he explained if, for example, a Palestinian businessman could have his business in Israel and live in the West Bank and an Israeli could do business in Palestine and live in Israel. The former official retired from the State Department 18 months ago. But it is known he gave a similar “closed door” briefing at the State Department to members of the American Foreign Service Association four months ago. Observers familiar with the problems of the Middle East and the solutions advanced said that much of the former official’s views were “not inconsistent” with the proposals set forth by Secretary Rogers in December, 1969, which President Nixon had reaffirmed in his report to Congress on the nation’s foreign policy last week. A State Department spokesman today vigorously denied that the briefing had been cleared in advance with the Department. “We had nothing to do with it,” he said. The briefer had, however, been officially invited by Robert Bauer, director of the USIA Foreign Correspondents Center in Washington.