Dr. Jarring Begins Series of Consultations with Ambassadors of Four Powers

Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring has begun a series of consultations with the ambassadors of the Four Powers on the Middle East situation but there were no indications today of the nature of the talks. Previously, the UN special envoy to the Middle East met with the ambassadors of Israel and the Arab states to review the prospects for resumption of his peace-seeking mission either here or in the Middle East. The inability of the Four Powers to reach any substantial agreement on guidelines for Dr. Jarring to follow in a resumption of his mission made the current consultations academic in the view of many United Nations observers. Some sources said that the Four Powers would prefer to concentrate now on the question of a restoration of the cease-fire agreements which President Nasser of Egypt repudiated last year. Israel has offered to observe the cease-fire agreements provided that the Arabs cease their attacks along the ceasefire lines.

The ambassadors of the Four Powers will meet again on Thursday in their 31st meeting with little indication that any progress towards agreement can be expected. Their meeting will be held after Secretary of State William P. Rogers is scheduled to announce the Administration decision not to comply at this time with the Israeli request for permission to buy a substantial number of Phantom and Skyhawk jet fighters here. The meeting may, therefore, provide a first test of the State Department assumption that if the U.S. refuses to sell planes to Israel, the Soviet Union, too, will show restraint in arming the Arab states and will adopt a more conciliatory position on the American proposals for a Mideast settlement. So far, the Russians have flatly rejected the U.S. proposals for an Israeli-Egyptian settlement and for an Israeli-Jordanian settlement.