Cabinet Meets to Prepare for Summit

The Cabinet met today for two hours for what was the beginning of a series of intensive discussions to plan for the Camp David talks Sept. 5. The meeting dealt with U.S. National Security Council member William Quandt’s report yesterday to Premier Menachem Begin on the talks Secretary of State Cyrus Vance had with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Alexandria this week. Quandt was a member of Vance’s entourage which had met with Israeli officials over the weekend.

Begin did not disclose what had been discussed at the Cabinet session today except to say that the Cabinet will, in the next three weeks, examine every document relevant to the upcoming Camp David talks where Begin, Sadat and President Carter will meet together for the first time.

The Premier also did not disclose the details of the report given to him by Quandt. He did say, however, that the most important development is that Sadat agreed to participate in the summit. Begin said that Quandt did not indicate whether Vance will be coming to the Middle East again prior to the summit conference, nor is there any indication of an Israeli-Egyptian meeting prior to the Camp David talks. There had been some indication earlier this week that Vance would return to the region within two weeks to help the Egyptians and Israelis prepare for the summit.

Meanwhile, speaking on Israeli television last night, Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, Simcha Dinitz, said that the U.S. will not submit a plan of its own during the Camp David talks. He said he regards the U.S. initiative as a renewal of the momentum in the Mideast peace negotiations and believes the U.S. will do its utmost to help Israel and Egypt come to an agreement through face-to-face talks.