Cabinet Firm, Unanimous in Opposing U.S. Arms Sales to Egypt

The Cabinet today expressed firm and unanimous opposition to American arms sales to Egypt. Reports of such intended sales have been filtering through from the U.S. over recent days and were the subject of concerned questions by several Ministers.

Premier Yitzhak Rabin said he had instructed Israel’s Ambassador Simcha Dinitz to convey to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger Israel’s “utter opposition” to the “trend of American arms supplies to Egypt–which is in a state of war with Israel.” Rabin firmly denied “reports from some quarters in Washington” claiming that Israel in fact agreed to or acquiesced in such arms supplies.

The Premier said he had made Israel’s position clear during his recent visit to the U.S., when he was first told by Kissinger of American plans to sell Egypt six large transport planes. He had warned then, Rabin told the Cabinet, that this was a dangerous precedent.

Israel’s opposition to the arms sale is well known to the U.S., the Cabinet statement said. Israel’s spokesmen had stressed that “instead of continuing as a balancing factor in the Mideast, the U.S. would become a factor accelerating the arms race and upsetting the military balance.” This was especially the case since the Arab states “continue to receive arms from the Soviet Union and from other sources.”

TAKEN ABACK BY PACE, INTENSITY

Well-placed sources here explained today that Israel had been taken aback by the pace and intensity of the development of an arms supply relationship between the U.S. and Egypt. Speaking frankly, these sources conceded that Israel had expected, following last year’s interim agreement, that Egypt would begin getting some military supplies from the U.S. but this process was expected to develop gradually and not to incorporate weapons of a sophisticated nature in its early stages.

In response to other questions from Ministers concerning troublesome news reports from the U.S. over the weekend and by Edward Sheehan in “Foreign Policy,” Rabin reported that Dinitz had queried Kissinger on these and received soothing responses.

According to news reports, the U.S. had promised Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to make every effort to insure Palestinian participation in a Mideast settlement. Kissinger told Dinitz Friday that the U.S. position on the Palestine Liberation Organization was well-known and remained unchanged: no participation unless the PLO accepted Resolutions 242 and 338 and recognized Israel’s right to exist.

Regarding Sheehan’s assertion that Presidents Nixon and Ford had secretly promised Sadat to support Israel’s return to the 1967 lines, Kissinger had referred Dinitz to the State Department’s public statement reiterating U.S. support for Resolutions 242 and 338 and affirmed: “It is not for the U.S. to present a blueprint for a final settlement or to draw final boundaries. . . .it is for the parties themselves. . . .” (See Related Story from Washington on Sheehan’s Article.)

There is concern among some Cabinet sources that these press accounts and other reports from Washington of late may be inspired by Administration circles to put pressure on Israel or at least test its resilience. Rabin told the Ministers there would be a full-scale debate on the “end-of-war” initiative next week if Foreign Minister Yigal Allon returns in time from his visit to Central America and his scheduled meeting with Kissinger in Washington March 12.

‘END-OF-WAR’ PAPER COMPLETED

Attorney General Aharon Barak and other legal aides have now completed, it is reliably learned, their paper on the “end-of-war” and it will shortly be submitted to the Premier. It is on the basis of that paper that Israel hopes to reach a consensus with Washington on the meaning and components of “end of the state of war”– and then proceed (if the Arab states agree) to substantive negotiations on this basis.

Presently in Jerusalem there is not a great deal of optimism that this initiative will indeed elicit a positive Arab response or even tentative sign of Arab interest. But almost all the Ministers back Rabin in believing that Israel must give the move every chance to succeed.