Sir Alec’s View That Israel Return to Mandatory Borders Does Not Aid Mideast Settlement, Israelis Sa

Political sources here said last night that a declaration by British Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home in Cairo that Israel should return to the mandatory borders did not contribute to efforts at a Middle East settlement. They noted that Sir Alec had also said during his Cairo visit, which ended yesterday, that permanent borders should come from mutual agreement, which contradicted his other statement on future borders. It was indicated that Israeli officials felt that Sir Alec’s reported pressure on Egypt to ease its conditions for an interim agreement with Israel to reopen the Suez Canal was valuable.

Sir Alec told a press conference in Cairo yesterday, prior to his departure for Rabat, that he felt the next move for a settlement should come from the Big Four foreign ministers–he is one of them–when they meet next week at the United Nations for the General Assembly. He said such a meeting should seek to renew the mediation effort of Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring, the special Mideast envoy, named to that task under Security Council Resolution 242. After months of visits to capitals of the Mideast nations, Dr. Jarring suspended his efforts when U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers opened a United States initiative which led to the Mideast cease-fire in August, 1970.

Sir Alec was asked for comment on the critical Israeli reaction to his suggestion, made at a dinner in Cairo on Monday, that the borders should be “the old international frontier”–the mandatory boundary. He replied that there might be points in Britain’s stand which the Egyptians did not like. (In London, it was announced that a Parliamentary question to Sir Alec on his Cairo visit had been posted for answer on Sept. 23. Parliament is now in recess. Granville Janner, Labor MP, plans to ask Sir Alec whether he discussed with Egyptian leaders, who included President Sadat, the need for direct talks between the Arab states and Israel, the forward movement by Egypt of surface-to-air missiles during the cease-fire and the involvement of Soviet military personnel in the Egyptian armed forces and what the Egyptian attitude was on each of the three issues.)