Defense Minister Moshe Dayan returned from Washington today where he said a mutual understanding had been achieved between the United States and Israel concerning the approach to the issue of separation of forces between Israel and Egypt along the Suez Canal. Dayan told reporters at Ben Gurion (Lod) Airport, however, that there was no way of knowing to what extent the mutual understanding with the U.S. would further the necessary mutual understanding with Egypt.
Dayan met for a total of seven hours with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger in Washington Friday and Saturday. He also met with Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger. He said he would report to Premier Golda Meir and the Cabinet on his mission and expected the Cabinet to make decisions on the basis of his report. It is believed that a disengagement proposal will be presented by Israel this week at Geneva.
The Israeli-Egyptian negotiating team met for more than an hour yesterday in Geneva and will resume the disengagement talks tomorrow. Sources close to the Israeli delegation described the discussions as “down to earth” and said the talks were proceeding nicely. No substantive decision were taken, however. Informed sources here said that Maj. Gen. Mordechai Gur, head of the Israeli negotiating team in Geneva, was returning to Jerusalem today for consultations.
Dayan and Kissinger met with reporters yesterday after emerging from a four-hour meeting at the State Department in Washington, apparently satisfied with the outcome of their discussions. They disclosed that concrete Israeli proposals for disengagement would be forthcoming in the very near future. Both referred to the Israeli Cabinet meeting scheduled for today to hear Dayan’s report.
Dayan told the Washington newsmen that he was “personally very happy” over his meeting with Kissinger. He cautioned, however, that “everybody should realize that after such a long time of hostilities between the Egyptians and us that it is very difficult to make even the first step for an agreement. I hope we are now in a position to make such a step at Geneva.”
When Kissinger was asked whether the U.S. and Israeli positions were in agreement, he replied, “The two positions have approached each other very substantially.” He told newsmen later that his talks with Dayan centered on “tactics and nuances.” He observed that there are no. “significant differences” between the U.S. and Israeli positions.
The tenor of the remarks by Kissinger and Dayan indicated that they had discussed primarily the issue of disengagement during their meetings. However, since they had closeted themselves for 90 minutes Saturday morning without any aides present, it was speculated that something more than disengagement had been discussed.
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