Weizman-carter Meeting Friday

Defense Minister Ezer Weizman will meet with President Carter tomorrow at the White House at 2:30 p.m., the Israeli Embassy informed the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today. The meeting was suggested by Carter last week but apparently had not been scheduled until today. It will cause a change in Weizman’s schedule for tomorrow. He will hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Watergate Hotel instead of tomorrow morning as originally announced.

Meanwhile, reports circulated here that the Pentagon and State Department officials with whom Weizman has been meeting here the last two days are cool towards his proposals for continued U.S. defense support but are withholding decisions pending the forthcoming Begin-Carter meetings. It is considered standard U.S. government practice to determine its responses for Israel’s requests on how Israel reacts to U.S. desires. Premier Menachem Begin of Israel and Carter will hold talks next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Weizman is said to have asked a U.S. outlay of $13.5 billion over the next 10 years. Israel is currently receiving $1 billion a year in military aid, an amount that lessens annusally in value as a result of inflation. The higher figure over 10 years suggests consideration of the lessening value of the dollar in purchasing power.

When an Arab reporter, at a State Department briefing today, asked Department spokesman Tom Reston about Weizman’s reported proposals, Reston replied that he would not go into “specifics,” but added: “We view Israel’s defense needs sympathetically and we will continue to be responsive to those needs” both in the “ongoing and long range” terms. When the reporter pressed whether military equipment for Israel would “help the peace process,” Reston said “The cornerstone of our policy is to guarantee Israel’s security” throughout the U.S. arms program. “Our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable,” he said.