Cabinet Due to Hold Session on U.S. Letter on Peace Treaty Clause

The cabinet is expected to convene in special session tomorrow to hear and ratify the text of a proposed letter to be sent by the U.S. to Israel on the “priority of obligations” issue in the peace treaty with Egypt. Informed Israeli sources said today that the talks being held here with U.S. special envoy Alfred Atherton, which are focussing on the formulation of this letter, indicate progress slowly but steadily towards a successful outcome.

The sources assessment, moreover, was that Premier Menachem Begin would himself endorse the evolving text of the letter, and would exercise his powers of authoritative persuasion upon the Cabinet majority to ensure that it was favorably received and codified there.

The letter, it is understood, is a U.S. attempt to alley Israeli fears regarding the priority of obligations issue, in other words, the issue of a possible clash between the peace treaty and Egypt’s commitment under its earlier defense pacts with Arab states. The letter makes it clear that Egypt’s intervention in a war between Israel and another Arab state would only be legitimate in a case of clear-cut aggression by Israel against that state.

ISSUE OF ISRAELI RAIDS

Israeli punitive or preventive raids against the Palestine Liberation Organization across the borders would not, for instance, be recognized by the U.S. as a legitimate cause for Egyptian intervention. Similarly, Israel’s occupation of the Golan and the West Bank would not be able to be cited by Egypt as legitimate grounds for intervention.

Israeli sources have raised the issues of less clearcut scenarios–such as Syrian and Iraqi troop concentrations on the Golan border prompting Israeli pre-emptive action–as requiring a definitive American statement of legal position. The U.S. letter, these sources said must make it clear that in such cases, too, the U.S. would not justify or support Egyptian intervention.

Atherton and Dr, Eliahu Ben-Elissar who is head of the Israeli negotiating team, continued to be cautious in their public statements today after a morning working session–which was the continuation of a late-night session that broke up at 1 a. m–Atherton said they had “covered the ground” and Ben-Elissar spoke of “new food for thought” and of a “solution shaping up.” Atherton is schedule to leave for Cairo tomorrow.