Two major disputes with the Carter Administration will face Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Premier Menachem Begin when they arrive in Washington this week and next. They are the U.S. ire over Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank and Israel’s anger over being included with Egypt and Saudi Arabia in an aircraft sales package.
In fact, Dayan, who arrived in New York this evening on a stopover to Washington, is scheduled to have his first meeting with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance tomorrow, on the same day that the Administration is scheduled to officially send its Middle East arms package to Congress for approval.
The Israeli Foreign Minister is expected to strongly protest the deal in his scheduled hour-long meeting with Vance tomorrow and at the working lunch that follows. Dayan is scheduled to have a breakfast meeting with Senators on Thursday before meeting Vance again later in the day, after which he is scheduled to return to New York.
Vance, in turn, is expected to bring up Begin’s statement at Kiryat Arba in Hebron yesterday in which the Premier told the 350 Jewish families living there that they will be joined in the coming years by hundreds of Jewish families.
PLAN GALA RECEPTION FOR BEGIN
Begin will be in Washington Monday as a guest of honor at a reception given by President Carter to celebrate Israel’s 30th anniversary. From 600 to 1000 American, which is seen here as an attempt by the Carter Administration to patch up its dispute with Israel in an effort to get the stalled Mideast negotiations moving again. There will no doubt be a private meeting between Begin and Carter at some point during the reception.
Scheduled to be discussed at the Vance-Dayan meetings is whatever message Ambassador-at-Large Alfred Atherton brought back from Cairo where he met with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Atherton reportedly had a letter from Sadat to Carter.
But the focus of attention tomorrow will be on the arms deal. White House Press Secretary Jody Powell said yesterday the Administration believes that “we have the support on the Hill to defeat any portion of the proposed sale.” The House and Senate have 30 days in which they can block the $4.8 billion sale of jets to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
SOLONS URGE DELAY IN PLANE PACKAGE
However, the leaders of the House and Senate today urged the Administration to delay indefinitely the arms package, unless it wanted to face almost certain defeat. “We are making another appeal to the White House to delay sending the bill,” House Speaker Thomas O’Neill (D.Mass.) said after a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd (D.W.Va.). “I don’t know whether he (Carter) will listen to us,” O’Neill said. “It would be foolhardy to send up the package if you do not have the votes.”
Byrd urged a delay yesterday saying it would “thus avoid some bloodshed on the floor.” Powell at his White House briefing said the Administration would consider a delay if an agreement could be reached that would “preserve the basic thrust of the arms deal but avoid a time-consuming and divisive fight on the Hill.”
Powell stressed that Carter would not accept an agreement that eliminated any of the two Arab countries from the package deal or change the number or types of planes to be sold. “If any portion of this plan is blocked, no planes will be sold.” However, many Senators have argued that they do not have to consider the sale to the three countries as a package.
Sen. Frank Church (D.Idaho), the second ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, urged the Administration to resubmit the sales separately. “In my view, the condition of linking these sales together violates the intent and spirit of the Congressional review procedure,” Church said in a letter to Vance. “The attempt to package them would set a precedent that would thwart the purpose, strictly confine and thus limit the objective of the legislative review process.”
The feeling on Capital Hill is that despite Carter’s warning that he will withdraw the entire program if the package is split, it is this linkage that has hurt its chances in Congress. Many in the Senate support Israel’s claim that its right to receive the arms was guaranteed in the 1975 Sinai agreement.
Another call for a postponement came from Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D. Wash.), who said the entire arms package should be delayed six months to provide time to peace negotiations in the Mideast to succeed. Appearing on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation” last Sunday, Jackson said “I believe that would set the time and lay the groundwork for a real intensive effort (by Israel) to reach an accord with Egypt.”
BUSY SCHEDULE FOR BEGIN
Dayan is scheduled to return to Israel before Begin leaves for the United States Sunday to participate in American celebrations of Israel’s independence. After going to Washington May I, Begin will appear in “Salute to Israel” rallies in Los Angeles, May 2, Chicago May 2 and New York May 4, where he will also address the Economic Club. He will meet with Jewish leaders and address meetings of the Israel Bond Organization. Begin is scheduled to be the guest of honor at the annual Salute to Israel Parade in New York May 7.
Meanwhile, eight top Jewish leaders who met last week with Begin and the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee to discuss measures to improve Israel’s image in the United States, met yesterday with Vice President Walter Mondale. Several of the participants said the meeting was off the record and all had agreed not to comment on the session.
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