Dayan is Cautiously Optimistic About Middle East Peace; Vance is Hopeful

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan declared in a television interview today that after his talks in Washington last week with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance he felt “better about prospects for ongoing peace prospects than before.” But, Vance, appearing on another television program immediately preceding Dayan’s interview, stressed there was no “breakthrough.” However, he said he was “hopeful” about chances for a Middle East peace settlement.

Dayan is scheduled to brief Israel Premier Menachem Begin on his talks with Vance during Begin’s stopover here today on his way to Washington for his own talks with President Carter and Vance tomorrow. Both Vance and Dayan said in their separate TV appearances, as they did at the end of their two days of talks Thursday, that Vance asked some specific questions that Dayan will have to have answered by the Israeli Cabinet.

Interviewed by Barbara Walters on ABC-TV’s “Issues and Answers, “Dayan said the reason he felt better was that the talks did not dwell on “formulations” or principles but on “realities.” He explained, “We tried for two days to see what the peace would be like if it were achieved for Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Arabs.” Dayan said what is needed between the Arabs and Israel is to “sit down” and “discuss the realities, how we are going to live together.”

The Israeli Foreign Minister said Israel had never said that Security Council Resolution 242 did not apply to the West Bank and Gaza. He said that for 10 years the Arabs had rejected the Allon plan, named for former Foreign Minister Yigal Allon, which would have divided the West Bank between Israel and Jordan. He said, therefore, the Begin government has proposed a new plan which would and Israeli military rule in the West Bank and Gaza strip and allow the Arabs there to have self-rule.

However, if the Arabs wanted to discuss a division of the West Bank, Israel was willing to negotiate it, Dayan stressed. But he noted that the Arabs talked only about complete Israeli withdrawal while some Administration officials talk only of border adjustments.

While the peace negotiations have been the main focus of the Dayan-Vance talks as they will be in the Begin-Carter meetings, they have been overshadowed by the controversy over the Administration’s proposal to provide 60 highly-advanced F-15 jet interceptors to Saudi Arabia and 50 less sophisticated F-5E jet s to Egypt as well as 75 F-15s and 15 F-16s to Israel.

Dayan continued to maintain in his TV appearance today that he had not discussed the $4.8 billion package deal with Vance or with Congressmen. He quoted Begin as saying that the Administration’s decision Friday to send the proposals to Congress as separate requests for each of the three countries while removing the public labelling of it as a package was a “constructive move.” But the Foreign Minister said that Israel still considers supplying the planes to Saudi Arabia and Egypt a threat to Israel’s security.

THE PLANES AND MIDEAST PEACE

Vance, appearing on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation,” said the Administration sees the planes as part of the search for peace in the Mideast. He said that it is “important” that each of the three countries have “confidence” that the United States will fulfill their “legitimate” defense requirements. He said the U.S. is committed to Israel’s security and both Egypt and Saudi Arabia play “essential roles” in the Mideast peace process.

Focusing on Saudi Arabia, Vance said the Saudis are a “force for moderation in the Middle East.” He said it was also an important country in terms of the economy of the world. When pressed whether the U.S. was “hostage to oil,” Vance said “oil is an important commodity” but noted that the major concern is that the Saudis could “re-enforce the peace factor.”

But Dayan said in his TV appearance that “I cannot agree with that.” He said that Saudi troops are in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon and that Saudi Arabia wants to be involved in all Arab wars and “one of these days it might be against Israel.”

NOT INTERFERING IN U.S. POLICIES

The Israeli Foreign Minister again reiterated he was not trying to interfere in American politics. He noted that when Israeli opposition leaders come to the U.S. they meet with Administration officials, and that when American officials and members of Congress go to Israel they meet with the opposition as well as the government. “Why can they do it and I can’t meet with the so-called opposition here?” he asked.

Dayan explained that Israel has friends in Congress. “They don’t support us blindly,” he stressed. But he said that when Israel has concerns, such as the planes, it expresses those concerns to its friends.

When Vance was asked today about the “Israeli lobby,” he said he doesn’t use such terms. He said there are “serious views” being expressed by individuals and the American people will weigh them individually.

Dayan said that among the issues discussed with Vance was the possibility that any agreement reached would have a time period of five years and the question of Palestinian refugees living outside the West Bank as well as Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

Begin, who will be guest of honor at a White House reception celebrating Israel’s 30th anniversary tomorrow, will go to Los Angeles on Tuesday and Chicago on Wednesday. He will return to New York Thursday where he will stay at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the Mayor, until he leaves next Sunday for Israel. begin accepted the invitation to stay at Gracie Mansion from Mayor Edward Koch. Sources said this will be the first overnight visit by the head of a foreign government at the Mayor’s official home.