Premier Menachem Begin said today that the peace talks with Egypt required a speedy resumption. In an address to a group of British Conservative Members of Parliament, led by former MP Michael Fidler, who is now director of the Conservative Friends of Israel, Begin gave the impression that he was hopeful the resumption would indeed be soon, although he did not cite any specific time span. He also counselled against losing patience or confidence in the peace process. The Conservative Parliamentarians are visiting Israel under the aegis of the World Zionist Organization.
In his meeting with U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis yesterday, it was reliably learned, Begin gave the same impression of a business-like intent to move towards resuming the talks as quickly as possible, but at the same time to ensure as far as possible, that the resumption will lead to success. As reported yesterday, there has been no concrete indication yet, from either Israel or Egypt, of a substantive softening of position on any of the disputed issues.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan yesterday criticized the countries of Western Europe for failing to support more energetically and enthusiastically Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s peace initiative. He told the group of British Parliamentarians that Sadat could have done with some more solid and vocal European support to counterbalance the pressures he was feeling from sections of the Arab world.
Dayan urged Western countries to work together more actively to ensure their oil supplies. They could not afford, he said, for individual foreign countries or rulers to have unchallenged power over their energy supplies.
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