The Cabinet yesterday formally approved Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s visit to Washington this week and heard the Foreign Minister outline the priority matters he intends to discuss with Secretary of State Alexander Haig and other U.S. officials. Shamir’s trip will mark the first direct contact between a ranking Israeli minister and the new American Administration.
Shamir said he would stress Israel’s readiness to resume the autonomy talks and negotiate an agreement for the West Bank and Gaza without Egyptian pre-conditions. He said he would make clear Israel’s opposition to any European initiative in the Middle East.
Shamir said he would also reaffirm Israel’s insistance that the U.S. create a multi-national peacekeeping force for Sinai, as provided for in the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, before Israel completes its withdrawal from the peninsula by April, 1982. Israel will continue to oppose the sale of American military equipment to Saudi Arabia, specifically additional fuel tanks and bomb racks to enhance the combat capabilities of the Saudis’60 F-15 jet fighters, Shamir said.
LOW KEY CAMPAIGN ON U.S. ARMS TO SAUDIS
It is understood, however, that Israel will keep this effort in a low key and not launch a massive public campaign against the proposed sale as it had done during the Carter Administration. Apparently the government is anxious to avoid a confrontation at the outset of its relations with the Reagan Administration, especially on so delicate an issue as American support for Saudi Arabia.
Shamir’s visit to the U.S. is viewed here as a possible prelude to a meeting between Premier Menachem Begin and President Reagan. So far, no invitation has been forthcoming from Washington. The Cabinet also approved visits by Shamir to Mexico and Colombia.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
