Blame Placed on Russia for Current Deadlock on Jarring Talks

Israeli diplomatic circles are seeking to place the blame for the current deadlock in the Jarring talks on the Soviet Union. They expressed sharp disagreement today with a recent remark by a United States State Department spokesman implying that the deadlocked talks are the reason for stepped-up Soviet arms shipments to Egypt. The Israelis claim that, on the contrary, the arms shipments are responsible in large measure for the impasse. They contended that the Russians are deliberately trying to make it more difficult to reach a political settlement and, in fact, have been hampering Mideast peace efforts since their first arms deal with Egypt in 1955. The circles questioned whether Moscow indeed wants a peace settlement in the region. Some sources expressed fear that the Soviet Union would try to torpedo an interim arrangement that might lead to the reopening of the Suez Canal. The initiative for such an arrangement came from the U.S. Israel has agreed in principle but has withheld detailed proposals pending assurances from Washington of built-in safeguards. The government is still waiting for word from Washington and Cairo on the matter of safeguards which will have a direct bearing on the proposals it formulates.

It appears certain however that Israel will make no commitments to partial troop withdrawals or other arrangements until there is a cessation of hostilities in the Suez Canal zone on a more solid basis than the current de facto cease-fire. Diplomatic circles here insisted that the atmosphere would be much more conducive to a general or even partial peace settlement were it not for Soviet arms shipments to Egypt. They claimed there was no indication that the shipments are in any way connected with the fluctuations of the Jarring talks. They observed that repeated American proposals for a Middle East arms moratorium have been rejected by the Soviet Union. There is evidence that whenever a settlement appears to be in sight, the Soviet Union reacts by sending more arms to Egypt. This happened in August, 1970 when the Jarring talks were resumed, the circles said. They alleged that the shipment of Soviet missiles to Egypt was deliberately intended to violate the cease-fire agreement and upset the mutual confidence vital to successful negotiations. The Israelis agreed with the U.S. view that the gravity of the latest Soviet arms shipments to Egypt should not be under-rated. They expressed satisfaction with America’s determination to maintain the arms balance in the Middle East.