Another War Not ‘desirable,’ Says Egyptian Spokesman As Gromyko and Nasser Meet

An Egyptian Government spokesman said yesterday that another war with Israel was not “desirable” now but added that Egypt could wait “for a few months or years” if necessary. Mohamed Hassan el-Zayyat spoke following a three-hour meeting between Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. Mr. Gromyko arrived in Cairo on Tuesday on a surprise visit which Soviet spokesmen described as “routine,” but his departure from Moscow in the middle of a conference of world Communist Party leaders indicated to Western observers that the Kremlin considered his meeting with Egyptian leaders urgent,

Mr. el-Zayyat said there were two ways to end Israel’s occupation of “Arab” lands–by force or by finding “a policeman and a judge in the United Nations.” He said, “it is obvious that the policeman and the judge are not functioning. If force is not available or desirable now, we shall wait. Waiting for a few months or years will not sap the vitality of the country.”

(The Washington Post said today that Mr. Gromyko went to Egypt to “test President Nasser’s reaction to a new six-point Middle East proposal by the U.S.” Robert H. Estabrook, the paper’s UN correspondent, attributing his information to a Western source, reported that the plan presented by Assistant Secretary of State Joseph J. Sisco to Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin was said to deal with Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula to secure and agreed borders but offered no map.

(According to Mr. Estabrook, the U.S. plan is related to points alleged to have been tentatively agreed upon by Mr.Sisco and the Soviet envoy. These are said to call for a “package” settlement of the Mideast dispute and terms that would be binding to both sides. Mr. Dobrynin is reported not to have given a formal reply to the six U.S. points.

(New York Times correspondent Raymond H. Anderson reported from Cairo today that Mr. Gromyko gave President Nasser a message from Soviet leaders and discussed a formula said to have been worked out by the U.S. and the Soviet Union, “According to unconfirmed reports, the formula would involve Israeli retention of the Arab sector of Jerusalem, with concessions to Jordan, Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights in Syria until Damascus recognized the UN Security Council’s resolution of Nov. 22, 1967 on the Middle East and Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula,” Mr. Anderson wrote.)