Foreign Minister Yigal Allon is to fly to Washington Dec. 9 for talks with U.S. officials. The announcement was made officially today simultaneously in Jerusalem and Washington. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy is expected to follow Allon to the U.S. capital and thereafter, probably in January, Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger will pay his ninth visit to this area since the Yom Kippur War.
The agenda in the upcoming talks will include a second-stage settlement in Sinai. Israel still insists that such a settlement be “political” in nature–a clear step on the road to full peace. Egypt Is seeking a settlement of military character, in line with the disengagement agreement of last January.
SEARCH FOR POLITICAL SOLUTION CONTINUES
Opening a Knesset debate today to assess the consequences of the UN General Assembly resolution supporting the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Arab summit conference in Rabat Allon pledged that Israel is determined to pursue “every crack” that might lead to peace despite the blows dealt by both events to the chance of peaceful settlement in the Middle East.
Reiterating Israel’s policy, Allon affirmed that the PLO was not and could not be a partner in negotiations. It remained, he said, a murder organization and it was attempting to foist its views–views that had brought about endless tragedy–upon the body of the Palestinian people. There was room in historic Palestine, alongside Israel, for another stale, an Arab state, in which, regardless of its name, Palestinian national identity could have self-expression, Allon said.
The Rabat summit and the UN vote had “grievously harmed” the chance of a peaceful settlement, Allon said. But if war were forced upon Israel, she would stand firm, he declared, Israel was not “Czechoslovakia of 1936,” Allon Stressed. It would not allow “bribed governments to appease its enemies at its expense.” The forces that had been ranged against Israel at the UN could easily be turned against others, Allon warned. There were the beginnings of signs, he added, that this realization was penetrating the consciousness of other countries and governments.
Likud leader Menachem Beigin blasted Israel’s information effort. Israel’s voice had not been heard during the past two weeks, he said, while major newspapers in New York and London devoted whole pages to the Arab case; Beigin warned that Jewish settlement would be the ultimate determinant of the fate of the West Bank.
(In Washington, State Department spokesman Paul Hare said today that the visit here by Allon was a continuation of U.S. efforts to find a Mideast peace. While confirming that Kissinger will resume his personal Mideast diplomacy when he meets with Allon next month, Hare said he did not know of any other meetings scheduled with Arab or Israeli leaders but did not rule out subsequent rounds of talks in Washington on a Mideast peace. He declined to comment if Allon would be encouraged to conduct talks with the PLO or to surrender more territory as a way of reaching permanent peace.)
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