Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said tonight that American weaponry was all the more necessary for Israel’s security in light of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s Increasingly hawkish statements. “After all,” Dayan told students in Haifa, “when Sadat Speaks of progress he actually means an Israeli retreat.” The Egyptian leader threatened last week not to extend the cease fire past Feb. 5 if Israel did not submit by that date a time-table for her withdrawal from the administered Arab territories. “If we achieve in the Jarring talks what we strive for, all right,” Dayan said tonight. “If we do not, then the talks will have failed. But the most important thing is that we should not lose our strength. We need a very essential, important thing: We need arms, faith and dynamic action for a basis for co-existence with the Arabs.” Davan added that “It is easier for the United States to supply us with arms while we are talking about peace than when we refuse to talk about peace.”
Foreign Minister Abba Eban also repeated his earlier warning that Sadat’s almost daily threats of war must stop. He noted these threats should be contrasted with Israel’s peaceful declarations. It is learned in this connection that in the current early phase of the Jarring talks, Israel is expected to stress the need for the continuation of the cease-fire as an essential part of the peace talks. Negotiations without a cease-fire cannot even be contemplated, sources here stated. They also noted that Israel will not insist on a formal extension of the cease-fire after it expires Feb. 5 but will be satisfied with an undertaking by the Egyptians that they will not resume shooting. The Jarring talks were assumed by observers to have been discussed at a meeting today between Eban and U.S. Ambassador Walworth Barbour. But a Ministry spokesman declined to give details of the conversation.
(The resumed Middle East peace talks continued today in New York as Israeli Ambassador Yosef Tekoah met again for a half hour with United Nations mediator Gunnar V. Jarring in the latter’s Secretariat Building aerie. Tekoah again refused to talk with waiting-newsmen. A policy of silence has once more set in at the UN. The resumption of the negotiations yesterday was marked by an unusual advance announcement of Dr. Jarring’s appointments for the day. Today, not only was Tekoah’s appointment not announced, but UN spokesmen would not even confirm after the fact that it had even taken place. That is in line with Dr. Jarringly request concurred in by his UN “bossy” Secretary General Thant. The latter met today with Soviet Ambassador Yakob A. Malik, and as usual there was no disclosure of agenda. Meanwhile, there has been speculation that Thant would call for a special session of the Security Council to put pressure on the parties if they appear unable to make any peace progress by Feb. 5.)
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