Dinitz to Meet with Kissinger for Further Clarification

Ambassador Simcha Dinitz left for Washington this morning. He told reporters at Ben Gurion Airport that he might meet with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger later tonight or tomorrow to convey yesterday’s decision by the Israeli Cabinet to seek further clarification of the components of a new interim agreement with Egypt before rendering its final decision, (See related story from Washington.)

Dinitz, who briefed the Cabinet yesterday on U.S.-Israeli relations, stressed that the government would not act until it had the fullest knowledge and information on Egypt’s position. He said that Israel was not playing for time and felt that further clarification can only contribute to the process of understanding.

Dinitz said that Israel is setting no deadlines and would accept no deadlines in matters affecting its basic security and defense. There is no room for haste in such matters and the government will follow its own timetable, the envoy said, He insisted that there was no crisis in Israeli-U.S. relations and that he was convinced that the U.S. would not “throw Israel to the dogs, it will not desert her, not politically and not economically,”

Following yesterday’s Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, sources there said there was “a possibility” that Premier Yitzhak Rabin would meet with Kissinger in Europe this week but that no arrangements had been finalized. The sources indicated that the decision would probably depend on Dinitz’s talks with Kissinger when he returns to Washington.

Rabin leaves tomorrow on a four-day official visit to West Germany and Kissinger is due to leave for Europe Wednesday. The Premier will return from Germany at the weekend, No government decisions on the next step toward an interim accord with Egypt can be expected before the Cabinet meets again next Sunday, the sources indicated.