President Carter emphasized at a press conference today that “It is not for me to decide the specifics” of Middle East issues and that the U.S. will not take part in the consideration of the military aspects now being negotiated between Israel and Egypt.
“We are not involved and we don’t intend to get involved” in the current Israeli-Egyptian talks in Cairo, he said. He said that the U.S. continued to consider Israeli settlements in territory occupied in the 1967 war as “illegal.” He stressed that “our position on settlements has not changed.”
Carter said “it is accurate” that he and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt see the Middle East situation “almost identically.” But, he added, “I cannot say” that he and Sadat “will agree on every detail.” He noted that all nations involved accept UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 as the basis for negotiations and this includes secure borders for Israel and the “realization” of that attitude by Israel’s neighbors.
Later, Presidential press secretary Jody Powell said he knew nothing of reports that President Carter had made “suggestions” to President Sadat in connection with the current Cairo talks. Powell said he did not know of any communication from Carter to Sadat since their meeting at Aswan 10 days ago.
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