U.S. Asking Israel to Spell out Its Intentions in West Bank, Gaza Strip

The United States has asked Israel to spell out in detail exactly what its intentions are on the West Bank and Gaza Strip should Premier Menachem Begin’s offer of limited “self-rule” for those territories be accepted.

Reports from the U.S. and a briefing by Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan of several Cabinet ministers and members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee yesterday indicated that this probing question was submitted to Israel by the Carter Administration last week.

It was apparently what Premier Menachem Begin referred to when he remarked, after his arrival in the U.S., that he had new “important suggestions” for Cabinet discussion within the next “three weeks.” Begin met with President Carter and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance on Monday. Dayan had seven hours of discussions with Vance in Washington last week.

The American question is believed to center on what Israel intends to do after the self-rule plan is in force for five years. Begin’s 26-point peace program, submitted to Egypt and the U.S. last December, calls for a “review” of self-rule after five years. But it does not say how the review is to be conducted or what Israel’s status will be in the territories afterwards. The plan contains the option of continued self-rule and Israeli military presence.

The U.S. has made it clear that it regards the self-rule plan as temporary and wants Israel’s ideas on a permanent political solution. According to reports from the Knesset committee members, the Americans have asked for specific answers to such questions as the scope of Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank, the status of the Palestinians who will participate in the talks determining their future, Israel’s proposed solution for the Palestinian problem, the future of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and the nature of Israel’s continued military presence there.

Begin has indicated that the Cabinet will address these questions within three weeks. Within that time the U.S. is expected to receive Egypt’s response to Israel’s latest proposals for resuming peace talks and the nature of the response will probably determine the Cabinet’s reply to the U.S. Israel has proposed that the next round of peace talks with Egypt bypass a joint declaration of principles and focus on the specifics of a possible settlement between the two countries.

Dayan told the Knesset committee that the Americans had declared themselves “more than willing” to study his proposal that Israel and Egypt discuss substantive issues rather than principles. He said that if Israel and Egypt could agree on the nature of Israel’s military presence on the West Bank, the more controversial question of the duration of that presence could be postponed until a later time.

At the moment, the major point of agreement between Israel and the U.S. is the opposition of both to a Palestinian state. U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis, who returned to Tel Aviv from Washington yesterday, said he expected the present deadlock to be broken “in the not too distant future.” He remarked that Begin’s visit to Washington this week “certainly was more positive than at the end of the Premier’s visit in March.”