Dayan Affirms That He Felt No Pressure by Top Officials on Mideast

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan told newsmen at a press briefing late yesterday afternoon that he felt no pressures in his meetings with top-ranking U.S. officials here and “nowhere was any practical proposal submitted by them or me” regarding the Middle East. Dayan met for 90 minutes yesterday morning with Secretary of State William P. Rogers.

He disclosed to newsmen that he breakfasted at the Shoreham Hotel with Presidential advisor Henry Kissinger but did not disclose what was discussed. Dayan, accompanied by Israel Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin, had what a Pentagon spokesman described as a “working courtesy lunch” at the Pentagon with Admiral Thomas H.Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and with Deputy Secretary for Defense Kenneth Rush. During the day, Dayan also met with Richard Helms, CIA chief.

SITUATION IMPROVED SINCE LAST YEAR

“I didn’t bring any demands or proposals and they didn’t try to do business with me,” Dayan said at the press briefing. “I didn’t feel any urgency of pressure to draw the conclusion that something must be done now,” he said. At another point in his press conference, Dayan said he felt no pressure to reach an agreement with any one Arab state or all the Arab states. He said, however, that the administration officials “do want something better than a cease-fire” but “nothing actually practical was discussed at any meeting.”

Replying to questions, Dayan said he thought the situation had improved since he was in Washington a year ago. “Things are much better now because of the Russian position,” he said, apparently referring to the pull-out of Soviet personnel from Egypt. He noted that the cease-fire has been in effect for more than two years, there was prosperity in the occupied territories, a more normal civilian life in the Gaza Strip and that Lebanon was restricting terrorists more than before.