Allon Confirms Recent Meetings Between Dinitz and Dobrynin

Foreign Minister Yigal Allon confirmed yesterday that meetings have taken place in Washington recently between Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz and the Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. He said, however, that as of now, there was no visible change in the “well-known” Soviet position on the Middle East. Allon, who made the disclosure at the weekly Cabinet meeting, reminded the ministers that he had informed them in the past about the Dinitz-Dobrynin meetings.

Reports in Washington over the weekend also claimed that Israeli and Soviet envoys in Bonn and possibly other European capitals had met for secret talks. These reports followed an Israeli newspaper report last month that two Soviet emissaries visited Israel and talked with Premier Yitzhak Rabin and other leaders about reconvening the Geneva peace conference. Some Israeli newspapers have also reported that the Russians suggested recently that they would be willing to renew diplomatic ties with Israel following “sufficient progress” toward a Mideast peace settlement without waiting for a final settlement.

DENY SECOND-STAGE ACCORD MOVES

Both Rabin and Allon denied at yesterday’s Cabinet session press reports that negotiations had resumed for a second-stage Israeli-Egyptian agreement. They said, however, that Israel was keeping in touch with the U.S. government on “the various possibilities for progress toward peace.”

Allon expressed satisfaction over Syria’s agreement to extend the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observers Force (UNDOF) for six months and appreciation for the letter signed by 76 U.S. Senators urging President Ford tore-affirm American economic and military support for Israel. He described the letter as a “document of the traditional friendship between Israel and the U.S.”