Cabinet Decision to Postpone Departure Date of Israeli Delegation to Cairo is Seen As Positive Step

Political observers are stressing the “positive aspects” of the Cabinet’s decision today not to send the Israeli delegation to the Cairo military talks. They pointed to the words, ” decided to postpone the date of departure of the Israeli delegation,” as deliberately conveying that Israel wanted to continue with the talks but was delaying for tactical reasons.

U.S. sources here in particular sought to play up this wording, perhaps in light of the pre- Cabinet meeting appeal from the U.S. to Israel not to stay away from the military committee. Israeli sources said the “review” of today’s decision, promised in the Cabinet statement, would take place ” within days rather than weeks.”

Word from the Defense Ministry was that the president skeleton delegation of officers in Cairo, led by Gen. Abraham Tamir, head of planning at General Headquarters, would remain at the Tahara Palace near Cairo for the time being. Earlier reports said Tamir would return to Israel tomorrow.

BEGIN HIMSELF READS STATEMENT

The Cabinet communique took a full hour to draft, with Premier Menachem Begin himself taking time off his lunch siesta following the three-hour Cabinet session to attend the drafting process. He was aided by Attorney General Aharon Barak and the Foreign Ministry’s legal aide, Meir Rosenne. Cabinet sources said the relative moderates within the Cabinet– believed to include Defense Minister Ezer Weizman–introduced significant changes in the original wording as proposed by the Premier, tending to lower the key of the statement. Begin read the final statement to waiting reporters:

“…since (the Ismailia conference) a campaign of grave vilification has been launched in Egypt against the State and government of Israel. Egyptian newspapers even used notorious anti-Semitic expressions…

“Whilst the political committee was deliberating and making progress towards an agreement on a joint declaration of principles, President Sadat suddenly decided to recall the Egyptian delegation to Cairo, thus disrupting the negotiations in which the U.S. Secretary of State also participated. Before the Egyptian National Assembly, President Sadat made an extremist aggressive speech and addressed to Israel ultimative demands that are totally unacceptable to Israel.

“Facing this situation the government of Israel has decided to postpone the date of departure…. The government will, in the near future, discuss again the issue of the departure of the Israeli delegation….

“We do hope that in the coming days the Egyptian government will act to prevent any repetition of statements injurious to the dignity of the Jewish people and the Jewish State thus creating a suitable atmosphere for the calm conduct of negotiations in which Israel continues to be interested.”

SUPPORTED BY PERES

The statement ended by noting that Begin would lead off a political debate in the Knesset tomorrow in which he will “respond” to Sadat’s Saturday speech.

The Cabinet decision which Begin said had been taken unanimously, won immediate backing from the chairman of the Labor opposition Shimon Peres. But Labor doves, and some doves on the coalition benches, were much less comfortable with it. David Glass of the National Religious Party said “Israel should do nothing to close paths to negotiation.” But it seemed that Begin could expect support from a large majority in the Knesset, with the official Labor line likely to be abstention.

U.S. ROLE MORE CRUCIAL

With the hiatus in negotiations now complete, the role of the U.S. diplomatic mission still in the area will become even more crucial for the continuation of the peace effort. Assistant Secretary of State Alfred L. Atherton and his aides were said to be “out visiting old friends in Tel Aviv” all day today. But they are expected to maintain close contact with both sides in the days ahead, looking for an honorable way out of the impasse.

Some Israeli press reports suggested today that Sadat–perhaps spurred on by the Americans–would propose a new venue, possibly somewhere in Europe, for reconvening the political committee talks which were suspended last Wednesday. Most observers now consider it unlikely that they will resume in Jerusalem in exactly the same for mat as before. Israel, however, would probably not agree to having talks in Cairo and not in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the “progress” attested to by all sides before the political committee talks were suspended appears clearly to have extended even to the thorny Palestinian issue, with the U.S. delegation pressing for the “Carter compromise” formulation on both sides.

This speaks of ” participation in the determination of their own future” by “Palestinians.” The word is that Israel was prepared to go along with that. But the Israeli team was still balking, however, at President Carter’s parallel call for “legitimate rights” for the Palestinians, which is seen here as the Arab codeword for the right to political independence.

All delegates apparently hoped and believed, however, that an agreed formulation on this and six other principles for a Mideast settlement could have been approved by the political committee’s plenary session that had been due to convene Thursday morning.