Allon’s Talks with U.S. Leaders Indicate Negotiations with Arabs Are Both Fluid and Uncertain

Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Allon continued his conversations with American political leaders today after he, President Ford and Secretary of State Henry A, Kissinger all indicated that the negotiating process is both fluid and uncertain both on bilateral discussions with Egypt or with all of Israel’s neighbors in combination.

Allon was to meet with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this afternoon and afterwards confer with Treasury Secretary William Simon. Tonight Allon will be Simon’s guest at dinner. The discussions with the Treasury chief are expected to center on Israel’s financial circumstances.

“It is too premature to decide how, when and what,” Allon said yesterday about the negotiating situation after seven hours of talks with Ford and Kissinger, “in a reasonable time we will know more,” he said. Allon emphasized the uncertainty of the future course by pointing out that he had been making “preliminary inquiries” towards achieving “better progress” in the Middle East and that consequently it is “too early to sum up the chances.”

Kissinger, standing at Allon’s side as he made these remarks, said that he and Allon had exchanged ideas and the “whole range. of bilateral relationships.” From the U.S. point of view, Kissinger told newsmen in a joint news conference, the talks were “very constructive and very positive.” But the Secretary gave no inkling of what further movement may take place in the negotiating sphere.

KISSINGER EXPRESSES OPTIMISM

After he had escorted Allon to his car outside the State Department last evening, Kissinger was asked by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency whether he was still optimistic for early resumption of negotiations. “Yes, I am optimistic,” the Secretary replied.

Allon said that the discussions with Kissinger were in the “most friendly way as usual.” and that his 75-minute meeting with the President “helped clarify the situation.” He did not go into details. It was speculated that he was thinking of the President’s “Jordan or PLO” remark in discussing Middle East negotiations a month ago. None of the principals to the Allon discussions have publicly mentioned the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The U.S. is now expected to report the substance of the Allon meeting to the Egyptian government, but Kissinger is not planning to return to the Middle East in the near future–certainly not before Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev’s visits to Egypt, Syria, and Iraq in mid-January. However, Allon is scheduled to return to Washington Jan. 10 to resume discussions with Kissinger. This was seen as allowing some time for discussions in Jerusalem, Cairo and Washington in the “quiet diplomacy” period sought by Washington, and a leveling of some common ground among them before Brezhnev sees Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Cairo.